WALLACE – Recently appointed Sheriff Shawn Wehr met with the Shoshone County Commissioners on Monday to address confusion surrounding the Sheriff’s Office budget. 

County Clerk Lori Osterberg also attended the meeting and responded to questions from Wehr and Undersheriff Travis Skinner. 

The primary concern was that the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office budget did not align with year-to-date expenditures when compared with the current point in the fiscal year. 

In September, commissioners adopted a $16.9 million county budget, which included approximately $5.3 million for the Sheriff’s Office. However, that total factored in $292,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds that were contingent on voter approval of a $2 million override levy in November. 

The levy failed, and the additional funds were not allocated to the department, which brought the department’s budget closer to $4.9 million.

Wehr said he was unaware that the budget he had been working from included funding contingent on the levy’s passage. He noted that he and Skinner were provided an updated and accurate budget last week. 

Much of the frustration from Wehr and Skinner stems from the fact that the adopted budget was intended to fund a certain staffing level within patrol and jail operations, levels that have not been achieved. Despite the short staffing, the department has spent roughly $2.2 million of its total annual budget. 

Currently, the Sheriff’s Office is down seven patrol deputies, four detention deputies, and one dispatcher. 

“What’s really getting hit is the patrol side,” Wehr said. 

The Sheriff’s Office budget is divided into multiple categories, including jail and patrol. Osterberg said the department has spent roughly half of its patrol budget, despite being understaffed for the entirety of the current fiscal year. 

“You haven’t saved a ton of money in wages,” she said. “You would think, but this (referencing the approved budget) totally wasn’t going to fund all of your people. It was going to keep some people hanging on until levy monies came through.” 

Wehr rebutted that explanation, questioning how such spending levels could be accurate given the low staffing. 

“If those numbers are correct and we’re deployed as low as we are, then how is that possible?” he asked. 

Skinner followed up by asking what percentage of the overall budget had been spent. He said that after reviewing the corrected budget figures, he believed the department had used roughly 41% to 42% of its annual budget. 

Osterberg said patrol expenditures are at approximately 46%, while the jail budget sits at about 33%. 

In addition to staffing shortages, it’s also concerning that the sheriff’s office was without a sheriff for 45 days—nearly 25% of the fiscal year—yet spending remains near the halfway point. 

“The question in my mind is, how did we get to 50% with all of these openings?” Commissioner Dave Dose asked. 

Dose requested that another meeting be held, likely next week, to allow the clerk to present Wehr and Skinner with a detailed breakdown of the department’s budget and fiscal-year expenditures.