College Park's safety fund, not nearly empty,,,

In todays issue of the Diamondback, it reported that the City of College Park raised taxes and devoted more than$500,000 to imporving public safety yet only 12% of that money (or $60,000) has only been spent.

Although the budget allows for the equivalent of 4.5 full-time officers for the city's contract police force, Ryan said recruitment of off-duty Prince George's County Police officers has been unable to keep up with funds available.

"We're over budgeting, charging too much in taxes and we're not spending the money in the programs we've allocated it to," Perry said. "Until we have the personnel, we can't spend it, but the mayor can run around and tell everyone how wonderful he is for putting that money in the budget."

Ryan said the city is working to expand the current pool of 15 county police officers, hoping more officers will allow more flexible scheduling.

"Every police force in the region, and I mean the entire metropolitan region, is having trouble recruiting police officers," Calvert Hills Citizen's Association President Morgan Gale said. "All these people are competing against eachother for employees that are qualified."

This leaves out one question, what did the city spend that 12% of that fund on?