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Sheriff’s budget: board discusses creating distinct SAR budget lines, TRT reporting and grant opportunities
Summary
County leaders discussed splitting search-and-rescue (SAR) costs out of the sheriff’s budget, new tourism‑related tax (TRT) reporting requirements, and a pending SAR equipment purchase and grant reimbursement strategy.
Grand County sheriff’s staff and budget officials discussed separating Search and Rescue (SAR) accounting from the general sheriff’s budget, the county’s eligibility for new tourism‑related (TRT) grant revenues, and a planned purchase of two utility‑terrain vehicles (UTVs) for SAR.
Sheriff staff noted that SAR salaries and benefits are currently folded into the broader sheriff’s budget and recommended isolating SAR personnel and operating costs in the same manner dispatch and jail budgets are separated. Budget staff cautioned that recoding existing line items will require administrative work; multiple line items beyond salaries (fuel, equipment maintenance) would also need re‑coding.
The board and staff also discussed newly effective TRT reporting and revenue rules. A county staff member noted that after July 1 the statute separates expenses into “emergency cost” (search and rescue, EMS) and “visitor‑related safety cost” (road repair, law enforcement) and that the county will have to produce an auditor‑style TRT report showing those splits.
SAR leaders presented a $82,002.32 equipment request to purchase two UTVs. The request is tied to a state DNR/OHVR-type grant that would cover about 75% of the purchase; the SAR team proposed $10,000 in donation funding to help the match and planned to seek additional reimbursement through the state SAR reimbursement program. Staff said a recent Can-Am purchase will be reimbursed by approximately $43,000 from the state DNR, and they expect a portion of the UTV match could also be reimbursed through SAR reimbursement processes.
Board members, county administrators and the sheriff’s office also discussed the practical work of charging SAR costs: deputies sometimes handle SAR activities that must be coded to the SAR account under the new TRT rules. Staff said they are changing call‑reporting protocols to record SAR activity and the origin of the person assisted (resident, in‑state nonresident, out‑of‑state) to support future grant applications.
Ending: County staff agreed to explore coding and reporting changes to isolate SAR costs, to pursue available state grants and reimbursements for SAR equipment purchases, and to prepare the TRT‑required expense reporting for the auditor.
