Davis County sheriff asks to restore deputy positions and raise uniform allowance amid steep attrition

Davis County Sheriff Kimberly Sparks pressed the county Budget Committee to restore lost positions and increase pay-related supports during a budget briefing at the Edmond Building in Farmington.

Sparks told the committee the sheriff’s office has lost 75 deputies over three years — "In 2023, 24 of our sworn deputies left the sheriff's office. In 2024, we lost 9 deputies. And so far this year, we've had 22 deputies who have resigned" — and said the county has spent about $16,000 to train each new deputy, totaling more than $1,000,000 in the last three years to address attrition.

Those losses, the sheriff said, translate into operational strain across patrol, corrections and dispatch. "Our patrol division handles over 51 calls for service every day and they conduct about another 21 traffic stops every day," Sparks said. She also gave figures for other units: detectives worked more than 500 criminal cases last year; court security screened almost 120,000 people; the dispatch center handled about 380 emergency 9-1-1 calls per day; and the county jail books roughly 21 arrestees and houses about 630 inmates on any given day.

Why it matters: Sparks framed the requests as retention and operational-necessity measures that reduce overtime, preserve institutional knowledge and sustain public safety. The budget asks also include position restorations intended to limit the county’s long-term cost of recruiting and training replacements.

What the sheriff requested - Reinstatement of seven deputy positions in corrections that were eliminated in the 2023 budget. - Two additional corrections deputies to staff a new competency restoration unit; Sparks said the program is a cooperative effort with the State Department of Health and is anticipated to bring approximately $1,400,000 into the county general fund. - Reinstatement of two patrol deputies (a reduction from an earlier request of three due to efficiency measures that converted part-time roles into one full-time position). - Filling four of six current dispatch vacancies rather than all six, reflecting anticipated consolidation work in dispatch. - A roughly 20% increase to the uniform allowance, which current discussion pegged at $1,200 a year, to offset rising uniform costs.

Committee pushback and cost-allocation debate Several commissioners pressed on where new funding should come from. One commissioner questioned whether contract cities that receive patrol services — West Point, South Weber and Fruit Heights — are being subsidized by the county general fund and suggested the county approach those cities to increase their payments. "West Point pays $47 per person," the commissioner said, contrasting that with the county’s unincorporated area rate of about $400 per person.

Sheriff's staff and chiefs responded that the county has been working with contract cities for years to adjust rates. Chief Taylor West (introduced during the briefing as the law enforcement bureau chief) said the county uses a formula to apportion patrol costs and has been implementing incremental rate increases so cities become "more whole" over time rather than absorbing a sudden doubling of fees.

Other operational items The briefing also covered equipment and program changes: replacement of two obsolete drones; a shift in SWAT operational alignment from a South Davis Metro model to participation in a North Davis unit that uses a fee-for-operator approach; an encumbered order for roughly 51–52 vehicles with uncertain delivery and upfitting schedules; and a new contract (approximately $27,246) for policy-manual management and training bulletins.

Staffing costs and recruitment policies were discussed in more detail. Committee members and staff reviewed a common two-year training-reimbursement expectation for newly hired officers (a period mentioned as typical across jurisdictions) and noted a proposed state bill that would have required a hiring agency to pay off outstanding training agreements did not pass.

What happens next Staff agreed to provide additional data requested by commissioners about tenure, time allocation across contract cities, and the underlying formula used to set interlocal fees. The committee did not take formal action on the requests at the briefing; the department’s personnel and budget requests will move through the formal county budget process for further committee review and decisions.