CENTRAL — The Louisiana Attorney General's Office says the City of Central can hire the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services while keeping its own police department in place.

Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a formal opinion concluding that a contract with the sheriff's office would not take away the elected police chief's legal authority to enforce laws and ordinances within Central.

The opinion also says the city can cut the police department's budget to help cover the cost of sheriff's office services. There is one condition though — the elected chief's salary cannot be reduced during his current term in office.

Under the arrangement, sheriff's deputies working under the contract would stay under the sheriff's chain of command, not the police chief's. Both agencies would have the authority to operate within Central's boundaries, but neither the chief nor the sheriff would have command over the other's personnel.

The opinion came after Mayor Wade Evans and City Attorney Sheri Morris asked Murrill whether the city could contract with the sheriff's office without infringing on the authority of Central's elected police chief. They also asked whether the city could reduce the police department's budget to help pay for such a contract.

The request described Central as a city intentionally designed to operate with limited government overhead, noting that it contracts out many municipal services and maintains a part-time police department.

Before the opinion was issued, Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran submitted a separate letter arguing that the city's description of its police department was incomplete. Corcoran said the department currently employs about 25 paid staff members and six volunteer reserve officers, operates from a recently renovated headquarters and has invested heavily in vehicles, cameras and other equipment.

Corcoran also challenged the assertion that Central lacks the funding to operate a full-time police department. He argued that city leaders have rejected several potential revenue sources, including a property tax, a sales tax, school-zone speed cameras and the creation of a municipal court.

The attorney general's opinion did not weigh in on that dispute. It focused narrowly on the legal questions presented and concluded that Central can contract with the sheriff's office, can reduce the police department's budget to help fund such a contract and can do so without stripping the elected police chief of his statutory authority.