Broadwater County sheriff urges voters to renew mill levy to preserve deputies and services

Sheriff Nick Rauser said at a Three Forks town meeting Thursday that Broadwater County’s five‑year voted mill levy, which expires this spring, is on the May 6 ballot and should be continued — ideally on a permanent basis — to sustain staffing and public‑safety services.

Rauser, who opened the meeting by reviewing why the levy was approved in 2020, said the sheriff’s office previously relied on inmate housing revenue from other counties and the state, an uncertain funding source that diminished in recent years. "This mill levy expires this spring," Rauser said, and the levy’s revenue has been used to hire deputies, start a reserve program and fund a school resource officer.

The levy approved in 2020 was set at 39.93 mills. Rauser said the county used that revenue to apply for a federal COPS grant that subsidized two deputy positions for four years; those positions are now fully funded by the department. He said equipment purchases and less‑lethal options — including Tasers, a bola wrap device and a 40‑millimeter less‑lethal round — have been paid for in part from the levy. "Those last five…