Montezuma County signs letter backing statewide digital trunked radio fund amid funding concerns

The Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners voted Jan. 21 to sign a letter of support for the Public Safety Communications Trust Fund, a statewide effort to build and maintain a digital trunked radio system for public safety agencies.

County staff described the letter as intentionally broad to avoid constraining future proposals and to indicate county interest in state funding. “They they they don't wanna box us in in an area where, you know, if we put too many details in this letter, they just want us to fund it and the reasons behind it to make it cleaner so that if they don't accept 1 proposal, they'll accept another maybe,” said Mr. Spratlin.

The utility of a trunked system was discussed as an interoperability and coverage improvement over older VHF systems. Spratlin said multi-agency events and past incidents illustrated the benefit: “We have a trunk system that everybody that would arrive for something like that can all talk on the same channels.” He noted efforts to patch with neighboring states, saying Utah’s system can now patch into Colorado’s.

County officials raised concerns about how the system would be funded if the state Joint Budget Committee (JBC) does not appropriate sufficient money. Spratlin summarized the financial picture in broad terms: “At this point, we really, we have 25,000,000 in the kitty, but that's all contractual right now. So a lot of that is to keep the system running. We still need to be funded in 1 way or another…” He added that per-county user fees could be prohibitive, calculating roughly “$64 per county” under one hypothetical division of costs.

Commissioners and staff discussed next steps if statewide funding does not materialize, with one commissioner urging the county to begin planning for local funding options. The board formally approved the letter in a motion that was moved and seconded; the clerk called the vote and the motion carried.

The letter of support signed by the county does not commit the county to specific funding levels or local expenditures; the text was described in the meeting as a general expression of support to help secure state-level appropriations. County staff said they will monitor developments at the JBC and consider local planning if the committee does not provide a funding solution.

The board approved the letter during its Jan. 21 meeting in Cortez, which included other routine items and resolutions.