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Sheriff warns staffing, overtime and school-guardian mandate will strain county resources
Summary
Emery County’s sheriff told commissioners that staffing shortages, rising overtime and new school-guardian requirements are stretching the sheriff’s office and could raise costs; an EMPG grant award remains on hold until a staff member completes required certification.
Emery County’s sheriff told commissioners on Tuesday that the sheriff’s office is operating under sustained staffing shortages and rising overtime, and that recent state school-security laws will increase the department’s workload.
The sheriff said the Office is “burning the candles at both end,” noting vacancies, overtime for special patrols and extra duties such as school interviews and high-profile investigations. He said an EMPG emergency-management grant award of $44,000 referenced in the budget is currently on funding hold pending required staff certifications and that the county is tracking those costs in a grant line until reimbursement is assured.
The sheriff described House Bill 84’s requirement for guardians or school resource officers as a difficult mandate for a largely rural county. He said districts had offered to pay half of some SRO salaries in talks with county officials but warned that recruiting and training enough qualified guardians would be challenging: “It’s put a crap sandwich in our laps as elected officials,” he said. The sheriff and commissioners discussed turnover risk for guardians and the training, psychological and firearms checks required before someone can serve.
Commissioners and staff weighed ways to reduce overtime, including creating additional positions and using grant reimbursements for specific patrol shifts (BLM and forest-service patrols were cited as partly reimbursed). The sheriff said some reimbursed overtime shifts (for example special highway-enforcement shifts) pay only at an hourly rate that does not fully cover wages and benefits.
The sheriff also reported operational benefits and constraints tied to contracts: Emery County houses state inmates and will see a state-paid per-inmate rate rise next year, which the sheriff said helps facility operations but does not solve staffing shortfalls. The sheriff urged commissioners to consider adding administrative capacity and additional deputies to reduce persistent overtime.
The commission asked staff to track overtime explanations and to return with options for whether to add staff, create an administrator position, or continue relying on grant-funded temporary shifts. The meeting produced no formal vote; commissioners requested follow-up budget numbers and scheduling for any staffing proposals.
