WALLACE — The Shoshone County commissioners earlier this month approved $450,000 in vehicle purchases for the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office, which has not added a new vehicle to its fleet since 2023. 

The approval came with a caveat: The department must wait until Fiscal Year 2027 begins Oct. 1 before officially purchasing the vehicles. 

Sheriff Shawn Wehr said the department will receive six Ford Police Interceptors, fully outfitted and wrapped with SCSO decals and lights, for approximately $450,000. 

Wehr called the purchase "critical" to the department's ability to do its job effectively, citing rising maintenance costs for aging vehicles, some of which date back to 2015. 

"To run a healthy fleet, you need to have a good rotation," Wehr said. "If you have more than six new patrol vehicles of one given year, of a fleet of our size, roughly 21 cars, then your rotation gets off balance. I don't want too many cars going due at the same time. We want to keep a healthy rotation of three every year to maintain the fleet." 

He also said most departments similar to Shoshone's purchase 3.5 vehicles per year to maintain this healthy rotation. 

The six vehicles are expected to take four to six months from the time they are ordered before they are available for department use. 

Funding for the purchase will come from unspent salary dollars, according to Wehr. 

"The funding to buy these new cars has really been on the backs of the deputies that have been working a significant amount of work to make up for the lack of personnel," he said. "Their hard work is what is creating the surplus." 

Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman voiced support for the request while seeking additional financial details before making a final decision. 

"I see the need," Zimmerman said. "We cannot do what we're doing with the vehicles we have." 

Commissioners also discussed the sheriff's office minimum fund balance, with Zimmerman wanting to ensure the department maintained enough reserves to cover roughly one-quarter of its annual budget. 

The clerk's office and Undersheriff Travis Skinner said the department would have a balance of $1.8 million before any vehicle purchases. 

The vehicle purchase would consume roughly one-quarter of that amount. The department is expected to need about $975,000 to cover operations during the final three months of the fiscal year, leaving enough money to continue operations and potentially carry funds into the next fiscal year. 

"We'll still be in the black going into the next year," Wehr said. 

By waiting until Oct. 1 to make the purchase official, the county avoids reopening the current budget and transferring money from several funds into the sheriff's office capital expense fund. 

Wehr has also budgeted for three additional vehicles in Fiscal Year 2027, which he said would bring the county almost entirely back on track with its fleet replacement schedule.