Officials in Carmel are looking at the possibility of allowing Putnam County to run their police force.

Carmel Town Supervisor Ken Schmitt says he's crunched the numbers, and says he doesn't know how much longer the taxpayers in his community can afford to pay for their local police department.

Currently, the bill is $9 million a year, which is more than one-third of his budget.

He's says he'd like to commission a study to examine merging the four towns and village police departments into one big agency that oversees the entire county. He thinks such a consolidation could save a lot of money.

Studies on police department mergers have been done in the past in Carmel, but they never gained much traction. Schmitt insists there might be greater interest now because every community is struggling to balance their budgets with the state-imposed 2 percent tax cap.

County Executive Mary Ellen Odell says she's open to the idea of a merger study. She's holding a meeting with law enforcement officials and elected officials next week to determine if there is any actual interest.