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Sheriff's office outlines full cost of policing, proposes 10% annual contract increase
Summary
A county law-enforcement official presented a detailed breakdown of per-deputy and program costs and proposed continuing the sheriff contract with a cost-of-living adjustment plus an additional 10% yearly increase; city leaders and residents questioned budget limits and alternatives such as a part‑time chief.
The sheriff's office told a special public hearing that the true cost of providing patrol and response to the city is far higher than salary lines alone and proposed continuing the county contract with an annual cost-of-living adjustment plus an added 10% increase to stabilize staffing costs.
The sheriff's office representative said a brand-new deputy starts at $24.74 an hour in base pay but when the county adds benefits and required costs that figure rises to about $36.62 per hour. The office provided a high-end example: a deputy with roughly 10 years' service on the payroll costs about $39.26 per hour when benefits are included.
"A brand new starting deputy starts out at $24.74 an hour ... and at the end of all that, the county is paying $36.62 an hour for those for a brand new deputy," the Sheriff's office representative said.
The presentation included one-time equipment and vehicle costs. The office estimated issuing uniforms, body armor, a sidearm, a body camera and a portable radio costs roughly $7,100 per officer; a new patrol vehicle is about $40,000, a later-model used vehicle example was $28,500, and outfitting each car (radios, lights, rifle/shotgun, radar) runs about $15,000.
Training adds materially to first-year costs. The Montana Law Enforcement Academy's basic program lasts about 12 weeks, the presenter said, and when academy pay, mileage, overtime and field training are included the first-year per‑deputy cost was estimated at roughly $91,242.
Using daily logs from May 2023 to May 2024, the sheriff's office reported town-level hours and computed local shares: for example, one town's deputies logged 7,836 hours in the period cited, with other communities logged at lower totals. The presenter used those records to calculate the portion of payroll and overhead the city currently receives from county-provided policing.
On the contract, the presenter recommended continuing the existing arrangement for fiscal 2024–25 (quoted at about $180,000) and building annual adjustments on top of cost-of-living data plus a 10% increase to “pave the way for the next guy.” The proposal was presented as a compromise to retain service levels while accounting for rising pay and turnover.
Council members and attendees questioned whether a long-term contract that included a fixed 10% annual increase would be legal or sustainable under state limits on municipal budget growth. The chair noted the city’s general fund revenue was roughly $232,000 last year and warned that a rapidly growing contract could outpace the city’s revenue growth.
Alternatives were discussed: hiring a part-time chief to enforce city ordinances, contracting with another agency, or adjusting service levels. The chair and residents also asked for clarification on which funds (general fund vs. enterprise funds) would absorb any contract change.
No formal vote or contract amendment occurred at the hearing. The chair said the council will review proposals and deliberate at its next full council meeting on the 18th.
