>I use SYS(1016) to show how much memory my app is using. But everytime a form gets released with THISFORM.release(), the memory count does not go back down to the amount it had before the form run. Why is that?

Try doing a RELEASE ALL, then check SYS(1016). The memory may not be getting released immediately. If after RELEASE ALL the number is the same, you may have a genuine memory leak.