{"id":29256,"date":"2024-02-12T00:33:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T07:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-sheriff-says-commissioners-are-defunding-office\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:52:31","slug":"montezuma-county-sheriff-says-commissioners-are-defunding-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-sheriff-says-commissioners-are-defunding-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County Sheriff says commissioners are \u2018defunding\u2019 office"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Creating
Creating a detox center in Montezuma County remains a long-term goal for Sheriff Steve Nowlin, but finding funding and a location has been a challenge.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin spoke out about what he called the \u201cdefunding\u201d of the Sheriff\u2019s Office after the Board of County Commissioners significantly cut the 2024 budget in December.<\/p>\n

According to Nowlin and the budgets and documents that Nowlin provided to The Journal,<\/em> the \u201cdefunding\u201d began early in 2023, and the Sheriff\u2019s Office has been significantly cut in the past two years.<\/p>\n

The 2024 Montezuma County budget<\/a> for the Sheriff\u2019s Office is $1,884,747, a 20.91% decrease from $2,383,250 in 2023 and a 27.3% decrease from $2,593,868 in 2022.<\/p>\n

A 2024 budget of $57,869,814 was approved, compared with a 2023 budget of $58.677,923, a decrease of 1.377%.<\/p>\n

Pretrial budgets halted<\/strong><\/div>\n

In January 2023, the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners halted pretrial spending, Nowlin said. In the budget, pretrial inmates would pay $50 for two or three deputies to monitor all pretrial clients. In total, this amounted to $40,000 to $60,000 annually, and helped pay for the pretrial services provided by the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sucked some of that into the general fund, some of it they pulled over into the detention line items for 2023, as well as some of the sheriff line items for 2023,\u201d Nowlin said. \u201cI wanted to help pay for training and equipment and some vehicle expenses for pretrial because they do home visits and everything else. That all went away. They took that away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute gaming contract with sheriff\u2019s department<\/strong><\/div>\n

In 2015, the year Nowlin became sheriff, the Sheriff\u2019s Office signed a contract to provide security for special events and patrols on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation..<\/p>\n

Nowlin had to end the Casino Contract with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe on June 30 because the commissioners wanted to negotiate a new contract, requiring them to remove all but $50,000 from the Casino Contract budget.<\/p>\n

Every three years, the Ute Mountain Ute tribe helps replace a transport vehicle for the Sheriff\u2019s Office with tribal money as per the contract.<\/p>\n

Nowlin said the $35,000 given to the Sheriff\u2019s Office by the tribe to go toward the $48,000 to $49,000 vehicle as per the contract in 2023 was sent to the county and never deposited into the sheriff\u2019s budget to help purchase the new transport vehicle.<\/p>\n

Faced with the shortfall, the Sheriff\u2019s Office had to use nearly all its annual contract revenue to replace the vehicle and add necessary equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kept it in the general fund,\u201d Nowlin said. \u201cI feel robbed, and it affects how we can continue to provide the best service possible to our citizens here.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Nowlin, the commissioners \u2013 Chairman Jim Candelaria, Vice Chairman Kent Lindsay and Commissioner of Deeds Gerald Koppenhafer \u2013 collected money from the tribe until the contract officially ended June 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still collected $7,000 a month from the tribe until the end of June, but that\u2019s not right. It was a contract between the sheriff and the tribe,\u201d Nowlin said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the contract, the Sheriff\u2019s Office applies for a gaming-impact grant each year, as it deals with how gaming affects residents of Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

According to Nowlin, when the $141,903 grant was awarded to the Sheriff\u2019s Office in November 2023 for 2023 and 2024, expiring on June 30, 2024, but the commissioners didn\u2019t give the entire grant amount to the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Instead of receiving the full award amount, the Sheriff\u2019s Office was given $118,000, cutting overtime salaries from $20,000 to $7,000, when they spent around $18,000 on overtime in previous years.<\/p>\n

Now, their budget only allows for $1,000 in benefits and just over $16,431 for equipment.<\/p>\n

Dolores contract changed by commissioners<\/strong><\/div>\n

Nowlin spoke about the Sheriff Office\u2019s contract with the city of Dolores, which allows the Sheriff\u2019s Office to provide services at an extra amount.<\/p>\n

At first, Nowlin said the commissioners attempted to increase the contract amount from $220,000 to $375,000, saying that Dolores should be helping provide firearms, ammunition, uniforms, body cameras and more for the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

After discussions, they lowered it to $274,000.<\/p>\n

For the 2024 contract, Nowlin said he, the Dolores Town Board and mayor unanimously approved and signed the document, agreeing to $250,000.<\/p>\n

All that was left was for the county commissioners to sign off on it, but Nowlin said they revised the contract for $274,000 without input or a new vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t like it and they rewrote it,\u201d he said. \u201cI had spoken to a commissioner that said they were going to sign it, and then all of a sudden, I get this. I get this revised contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowlin said Dolores Town Board was upset by the changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI explained everything that happened and that I didn\u2019t think it was right that they could rewrite a contract that the town already approved,\u201d Nowlin said.<\/p>\n

2024 budget and quarterly updates<\/strong><\/div>\n

At the end of December, the county commissioners approved their 2024 budget, despite community and Sheriff\u2019s Office opposition to the cuts.<\/p>\n

Nowlin also asked them not to approve the budget at the meeting, saying that multiple line items were incorrect in the sheriff\u2019s portion of the budget.<\/p>\n

Now, Nowlin said, he can\u2019t even get on the agenda at commissioner meetings to address concerns or bring up other items. Previously, he gave monthly updates to the Board of County Commissioners; now, he provides quarterly updates.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Travis Anderson emphasized that the Sheriff\u2019s Office was not singled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontezuma County has 22 departments that require funding and we look at all budget requests equally,\u201d he told The Journal<\/em>. \u201cWhen looking at budgets, it is important to understand that the county\u2019s expenses continue to rise in all departments while at the same time, revenues continue to decrease. At this time, anticipated revenues for 2024 are expected to decline by $450,000 to $500,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson also said that not all line items from past years were included in the 2024 budget presented by the Sheriff\u2019s Office, and that the budgets for other line items \u201cwere based on actual expenses from previous years.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Nowlin asked to address the Gaming Impact Grant at their January 2024 meeting, the commissioners denied the request, saying that the gaming grant was already allocated in the budget for dispatch services and would not be on the agenda.<\/p>\n

Anderson explained that the Sheriff\u2019s Office budget \u201creflects the receipt\u201dof the total allotted money from the Gaming Impact Grant, and these funds were applied to the Cortez Dispatch Center for the sheriff\u2019s dispatch services and overtime funding.<\/p>\n

Before 2023, the Sheriff\u2019s Office budget allowed $50,000 for vehicle maintenance and insurance. In 2024, it was lowered from $50,000 to $15,000 in the sheriff\u2019s budget and was lowered from $15,000 to $4,000 in the Detention 2024 budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cToward the end of 2023, the Sheriff\u2019s Office received a fleet of new vehicles which allows for a reduction in vehicle maintenance; the insurance for the Sheriff\u2019s vehicles is fully paid by the county and does not come from the Sheriff\u2019s budget,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

In the LEA budget, it was reduced from $30,000 in 2023 to just $10,000 in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just cuts, it\u2019s defunding,\u201d he said. \u201cNone of this was transparent at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

One positive thing Nowlin shared was that after nine months of advocating for raises for Sheriff\u2019s Office employees, Nowlin said they were given a $10,000 annual raise for the certified employees.<\/p>\n

While this helps a lot, Nowlin said they are still behind when it comes to law enforcement salaries, especially since his deputies may have to start paying part of their medical insurance next year on top of paying for their dependents because of rising insurance rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so far behind. I can\u2019t compete with other agencies in the state because of the low pay and terrible benefits the county has,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When approving the budget, the commissioners also approved the removal of 10 open positions in the Sheriff\u2019s Office, eliminating the chance for more deputies to be hired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never got any input at all,\u201d he said, also sharing that he didn\u2019t know how many were cut until he read the story <\/a>in The Journal <\/em>about the decision at the beginning in January.<\/p>\n

Nowlin pointed out that now it is easier to fill noncertified deputy positions and positions in the detention division rather than hiring certified officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t pay the benefits everybody else does,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were set up to be fully staffed this year and got shot out of the saddle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they wonder why employees have moved to collective bargaining,\u201d he said, while noting that he and the undersheriff couldn\u2019t have any part in the push for collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the training budget was also cut down significantly.<\/p>\n

For 72 deputies, the budget allocates for $23,000 rather than the usual amount of $30,000.<\/p>\n

Despite being understaffed and a significantly lower budget than usual, Nowlin said calls for services continue increasing by at least 1,000 per year.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Sheriff\u2019s Office received 19,264 calls.<\/p>\n

Health screenings denied<\/strong><\/div>\n

On Monday, Jan. 29, Nowlin provided more documentation to The Journal.<\/em> The first was an approved grant from the Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice for $67,000.<\/p>\n

According to the grant letter, the grant money is to be used to provide health screenings to certified and noncertified employees of the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The documentation also showed that the county commissioners denied approval of the grant on Monday, saying that no county funds would be used.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grant submission did not align with the county procurement policy. By this policy, services identified in the grant must be put out to bid,\u201c Anderson said of the grant\u2019s denial.<\/p>\n

Nowlin expressed his frustration with the recent budget decisions, saying that local law enforcement needs more support from elected officials, sharing that he will lose three deputies from detention and one from patrol soon, with more that could follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public needs to know, we have no law enforcement support from the County Administration and the Board of County Commissioners,\u201d Nowlin said. <\/em><\/p>\n

Anderson explained that the decisions were made because of decreased revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery spending agency in the county needs additional funds to support additional staff, equipment and programs. The reality is, revenues have decreased and expenses continue to rise. As elected officials, we must be good stewards and operate within the allotted resources and finances that we have available,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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