Mohave County sheriff urges board to add 35 deputies, seeks $5.75 million this year

Sheriff Doug Shuster told the Mohave County Board of Supervisors on March 17 that the county’s patrol division is stretched thin and asked the board to find funding this year for 35 additional deputies and salary adjustments that together would total about $5.75 million.

Shuster, who identified staffing and compensation as his two priorities, told the board he currently has 57 patrol deputies countywide and that deputies handle roughly 50,000 calls for service annually. “We have 57, gentlemen, for the entire county,” Sheriff Doug Shuster said during the presentation. He described the county as geographically large — more than 13,470 square miles — and said response times and officer safety are affected by long travel distances.

Shuster presented a two-part funding request: $4.5 million to add 35 deputy positions this year (including salaries, employee-related expenses, vehicles, equipment and uniforms) and about $950,000 to bring mid-range and top-out pay closer to local market levels, for a combined proposal of $5,750,000. He told the board that hiring and training a single new deputy — academy, field training and equipment — is about $100,000.

Why it matters: Shuster warned that low staffing contributes to delayed responses, thinner investigative work and single-officer patrols that raise safety concerns. He and several supervisors said tourism and rapid population growth have increased calls for service and put additional strain on deputies.

Board reaction and questions: Supervisors pressed for details on training costs and recruitment. Supervisor Steve Martin asked whether the department requires a service commitment for recruits who attend the academy; Shuster said the county no longer enforces multi‑year hire-back contracts because courts limit recoverable training costs to non‑salary expenditures. Supervisor Martin and Supervisor Letman asked about recruitment and whether the department had identified funding sources; Shuster said most options are a board-level prioritization decision and suggested sales tax or other revenue choices were available to the board but not recommended by staff.

Shuster said the sheriff’s office has improved starting pay but still lags in mid-range and top-out wages compared with nearby agencies; he described continued turnover as a problem. “We added 12 positions, but we were 6 positions below when we added those 12,” he told the board, recounting previous staffing trends and the continuing gap versus recommended staffing ranges. On comparable staffing standards, Shuster noted that national guidance recommends roughly one officer per 1,000 residents; Mohave’s current ratio is approximately one deputy per 2,380 residents under the numbers he presented.

Budget context and next steps: Shuster acknowledged the request is not in the current submitted budget and said it would be difficult to add the full package without board action. Supervisors expressed concern about where to find recurring money in the short term and thanked Shuster and his staff for the work they do. The meeting record shows questions, commitments to consider options and discussion of potential proposals; no formal appropriation or new budget action for Shuster’s request was adopted at the March 17 session.

Shuster ended by asking the board to treat staffing and competitive salaries as an ongoing “cost of doing business” and to identify resources to address the shortfall going forward.