Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II took advantage of the regular monthly meeting with the Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday to ask the commissioners for more money for the city police department.
Bruchey said if the commissioners removed limitations on money given to the city in the annual tax setoff, the city would receive an additional $375,000 from the county for police protection.
The tax setoff represents money saved by the county for not having to provide services, such as more police protection, in municipalities where the municipalities provide those services.
For the current fiscal year the City of Hagerstown received $856,511 from the county.
The amount of money paid to the city for police protection is currently capped.
Bruchey said after seeing a newspaper report that showed that roughly 13 percent of all reported crimes in the city from 1995 through 1998 occurred downtown, "it behooves us to get money for additional services."
