At a special meeting over a month ago, the Montezuma County Sheriff first told the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners his department was on track to overspend in 2024.
After tabling the decision once and several meetings between the Sheriff’s Office, administration and the finance department, the county commissioners decided to deny the supplemental budget request at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
“Basically, this is going to be short and sweet,” Commissioner Jim Candelaria said.
The aforementioned groups “have all worked together to minimize the overspending of the sheriff’s budget by limiting overtime and other spending through the end of the year,” Candelaria said.
They’ve also transferred “unexpended grant funding” to the Sheriff’s Office and jail budgets.
It’s unclear how much grant funding they’ve transferred to mitigate the $239,000 overage, but Commissioner Kent Lindsay said “we’re close” in figuring it out.
Travis Anderson, the county administrator, said, “We should know by the end of the year, hopefully by the 31st. That’s where finance is punching numbers.”
On the very last day of the year, the 31st, which also happens to be their last meeting of the year, Candelaria said, “if necessary, we’ll approve the supplemental budget … to make sure the general fund as a whole is not overspent.”
To be clear, “His (the sheriff) budget isn’t being supplemented. We are supplementing the general fund if need be,” Anderson said.
And that means taking money out of reserves to supplement the general fund, which the Sheriff’s Office is part of.
Already, the county is taking $1.7 million out of reserves this year to balance the general fund, an overage made possible by “a conglomeration of things,” Anderson said.
At the Dec. 17 meeting, the discussion was brief and cordial. Sheriff Steven Nowlin was not present, though he later said he was “not surprised” by the decision.
“Thank you for working with us,” said Candelaria at the meeting as he addressed representatives from the Sheriff’s Office. “Along with finance, for doing what we’ve had to do in these troubled times.”
Lindsay said, “I just wanted to thank you all for getting us to this point. We started with a big hole to fill, and you guys have really stepped up.”
“We’re thankful,” said Montezuma County Undersheriff Tyson Cox. “We’ve been able to get to a spot where we’re at least able to minimize the impact as much as possible.”
