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Sheriff urges proportionate interlocal funding for school resource officer; Eureka asked to consider ~$6,000/year share
Summary
Sheriff Anderson asked the Eureka City Council to consider joining a proportionate interlocal agreement to fund a full-time school resource officer (SRO). The sheriff highlighted staffing shortfalls, a sharp rise in service calls and said a 2021 proportionate study estimated Eureka's share at roughly $6,000 per year.
Sheriff Anderson told the Eureka City Council on Feb. 9 that the county and school district currently fund school resource officers through interlocal agreements and asked the council to study a proportionate contribution for Eureka.
The sheriff said the county has seen a fourfold increase in service responses over his tenure — from about 2,200 to 9,500 — while the workforce remained essentially the same. He described five current deputy vacancies and said those staffing pressures limit the sheriff's office’s ability to provide dedicated local patrols without contractual support. "We're talking a 400% increase in service demands with essentially the work the same workforce," the sheriff said.
Why it matters: the county, school district and some cities already share SRO costs under interlocal agreements; adding a formal contribution from Eureka would create a baseline local presence in schools and could buy proactive enforcement and traffic control benefits the mayor and business owners said they want.
What the sheriff proposed: he described the legal basis for interlocal agreements that allow local governments to share services and asked the council to participate in a proportional funding study. The sheriff cited a 2021 proportionate study that had suggested roughly $6,000 per year as Eureka’s share. He also said the school district contribution for the SRO program had been about $32,000 in the prior year and that the county currently covers roughly two-thirds of the program’s cost; he emphasized the numbers would be finalized through county budgeting and commission ratification.
Council members asked how an on-campus officer would be dispatched to off-campus incidents, and the sheriff explained that the school-based officer remains on the county dispatch system and can be redeployed for violent felonies or immediate-life-risk calls through standard dispatch procedures. The sheriff cautioned that proactive enforcement could be constrained if an officer is required to remain inside school grounds by recent guardianship/armed-staff law; he suggested the council consider guardianship, SROs, or a combination depending on what the district and county agree to provide.
Next steps: Sheriff Anderson said cost figures and a negotiated service package would be presented to the county commission for ratification; he invited the council and mayor to participate in any cost-study and to attend commission discussions. Council members asked city staff (including the mayor's office) to explore potential local funding and grant options and to coordinate with county staff on the proportionality study.
Ending: the council did not take a funding vote at the Feb. 9 session; the sheriff said he will return to present negotiated cost options once a service model is defined and after the county commission reviews the fiscal impact.
