Frederick County Council President Responds To Comments About Sheriff’s Office Budget Cuts

The Frederick County Council cut $5 million across the county government budgetFrederick, Md. (BW)- Frederick County Council President Brad Young responded last week to comments made about budget cuts to the Sheriff’s Office.The comments came from Sheriff Chuck Jenkins Wednesday, June 7, on the Morning News Express. The county council approved a $890,000 cut from the Sheriff’s Office budget for fiscal year 2024. Jenkins expressed his frustration and concern.The council claimed they were cutting four deputy positions. Young said Friday, June 9, on Mid Maryland Live, these positions were vacant and there was very little likelihood that they would be filled using the FY24 budget.He added the Sheriff’s Office can still hire more deputies if needed, however, the funds would come from a supplemental budget or through overhire.”…this would not take any deputy positions away that could be hired, but it would allow that money to be used in this budget versus a future budget,” Young said.He compared the budget cuts to clearing cap space on a professional sports team.Jenkins said that some of the funds cut would’ve been used to pay deputies overtime in the cases of emergency responses.He also said the Sheriff’s Office is currently understaffed.Click here to listen to Sheriff Chuck Jenkins’ comments.Click here to listen to Brad Young’s response.