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Cass County and schools weigh options as SRO contract costs rise
Summary
Sheriff John told commissioners that school contract costs rose substantially because of compressed deputy pay steps; the county and commissioners discussed options—small county increases, altered cost splits, a temporary $23,000 hold-harmless payment, or using unfilled-position savings—to prevent school districts from losing full-time deputies.
Sheriff John told the commission the sheriff's office prepares school contracts now so districts can budget for 2027. He said the current standard cost split is 75% school / 25% county for full-time school resource deputies and that contracts have risen because compressed 12-step pay scales have increased deputy wages faster than school-staff pay.
"For a full-time contract out in the county, the school is paying $84,834 this year, and the county is paying $28,278," he said, comparing that to Fargo district contracts where the school share is higher. Rural districts, he said, face steeper relative cost pressure because their budgets are smaller and travel times are longer, and he emphasized the public-safety benefits of placing deputies in remote schools.
The sheriff offered several short-term options to blunt the increase: shift the split modestly (a 70/30 or 65/35 school/county split), move to biennial increases instead of annual ones, calculate costs using a lower patrol-deputy step, or add a one-time county "hold harmless" payment to keep districts whole. He estimated a 70/30 shift would cost the county roughly $23,000 to keep current staffing among the county's full-time school contracts.
Commissioners debated tradeoffs. Some cautioned against permanently changing the formula because percentages can become hard to reverse, while others suggested using budget-year unfilled-position savings to bridge the gap and asked county finance staff to analyze whether a hold-harmless approach or modest split change is feasible within the 3% cap on property-tax-driven increases.
No formal decision was made; commissioners asked the sheriff and portfolio commissioner to prepare explicit cost options and to consult with county budget staff so the county can present final contract numbers by the end-of-April timeline districts need for their budgets.
