Mesa County sheriff appeals budget constraints that could cut 28 deputies

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell appeared before the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 6, 2025, to warn that this year’s budget proposal could undo nearly a decade of progress under the 2017 voter-approved 0.37% public-safety sales tax. The budget appeal on the third floor of the county administration building doubled as a press conference, drawing commissioners, staff and reporters eager to see what “doing more with less” means for Mesa County public safety.

Sheriff Todd Rowell, right, speaks with Commissioner Bobbie Daniel and Undersheriff Matt King during the Nov. 6 budget appeal in Grand Junction.

Rowell said the math no longer works. “I gave up five deputies to submit a flat budget… 13 more were defunded… $980,000 in line-item cuts may impact up to ten additional,” he said. “This budget may cut 28 deputies.”

The loss, he said, would drop patrol staffing to 1.35 deputies per 1,000 residents—well below the national average of 2.4—and leave one deputy responsible for 5.6 inmates when the standard is one for every four.

Calls for service have climbed from about 42,000 in 2016 to more than 45,000 in 2024, and the Sheriff’s Office now solves roughly half of reported crimes—about 20 percent higher than the statewide average.

Rowell said the problem isn’t voter support but how funds are managed. “The public safety sales tax produces enough revenue to fully fund 56 deputies within my office and does right now,” Rowell said. “The problem is the general fund. There’s nothing in the resolution that says you can’t cut the general fund, but the intent wasn’t to supplant it—it was meant to be in addition to it.”

County staffing data show that the Sheriff’s Office grew from about 225 to 274 positions between 2016 and 2026, while other county departments added roughly 184 positions over the same period.

How a local tax lost its power

Rowell reminded the board that voters approved the 2017 Public Safety Sales Tax Resolution to fund public-safety agencies, saying that while PSST fulfills that purpose, shifting General Fund dollars has turned a community promise into an accounting offset.

The resolution says the county “shall expend the revenue… for the following purposes… and for no other purposes,” then lists hiring and equipping public-safety personnel, investigations, operations and related costs. 

It hard-codes distributions to the Sheriff and District Attorney and sets 15.88 percent aside for named public-safety agencies such as municipal fire and police—the legal reason those entities receive PSST funding, and confirmation that departments like Human Services and Public Health fall outside its scope.

When voters passed the tax, campaign materials set clear goals—1.5 deputies per 1,000 residents and a 1-to-4 jail staffing ratio—targets Rowell says remain attainable with a stable baseline.

The concern isn’t new. In an October 2024 letter to county administrators, Rowell warned that 15 deputy positions had already been eliminated from the General Fund side while PSST dollars remained static. “It is unfair to allow this undefendable cut from the Sheriff’s Office and misuse of the PSST to carry into their administration,” the letter said. 

Rowell said PSST revenue remains steady. Exempt from TABOR, the steady revenue hasn’t grown enough to offset shrinking General Fund dollars or the rising cost of state-mandated programs.

Counties across Colorado take a stand for local control

Mesa County’s fight mirrors a statewide battle over unfunded mandates that counties say cost $380 million a year. Commissioner Bobbie Daniel said the county tracks about $10 million in unfunded state requirements each year, about 65 percent tied to the Sheriff’s Office. 

“We allocate—how he spends within his allocation is up to him,” Daniel said, adding that the board asked every department to cut 10 percent. She noted that Mesa has joined at least 47 other counties in signing letters to state leaders over what she called a growing financial crisis.

Undersheriff Matt King acknowledged recent raises but said they still leave the office behind. “I appreciate the compensation increases, but we’re still some of the lowest paid within the range of comparable counties.”

Several state laws illustrate the problem. SB25-003 requires sheriffs to issue semiautomatic-firearm eligibility cards, a program King estimated at $380,000 to launch. 

Colorado law now requires county jails to provide medication-assisted treatment for inmates battling opioid addiction. The program, created under HB20‑1017, started with state-backed initiative has become a local line item. The county’s cost? $750,000 each year.

Streets across America filled after George Floyd’s death—Denver among them. From that moment grew HB21-1250, Colorado’s next step after the 2020 accountability act, tightening body-camera rules, broadening training and reporting—and making every agency track use-of-force incidents and deaths in custody.

The county’s “Fix It or Fund It” page lists these mandates department by department. The Sheriff’s share alone tops $2,073,170 this fiscal year, aligning with Rowell’s budget appeal for a solution that preserves his crime-fighting force. Daniel said those pressures, combined with a state deficit and federal uncertainty, forced the 10 percent cutback order. “It has not been a fun year by any means,” she said.

Those cuts translate into fewer officers and slower response times. Rowell’s 2026 budget appeal presentation listed the likely fallout: fewer crimes solved, reduced proactive policing, unsafe jail conditions, mandatory overtime, burnout and turnover—a cycle the presentation highlights as “a compounding issue.”

Asked how he balances statute against safety when cuts are unavoidable, Rowell said the mission still comes first. Even with fewer deputies, he said the Sheriff’s Office will keep its focus on protecting the community, describing his staff as “amazing employees who pick up the extra load” to make sure Mesa County stays safe.

Asked what he wants lawmakers to hear when the session opens in January, Rowell didn’t hesitate. “Focus on local control… my biggest issue is watching local control get stripped,” he said. As president of County Sheriffs of Colorado, he plans to press those concerns at the Capitol.

Appeal and accountability

Rowell’s appeal came down to one request: fund the 2026 Sheriff’s Office budget as originally submitted and honor what voters intended when they approved the Public Safety Sales Tax in 2017.

County Budget Manager Diane Dziewatkoski said the budget process starts with revenue forecasting each spring and ends with appeals and final adoption in December. County Administrator Todd Hollenbeck confirmed that Rowell’s appeal will go before the Board on Dec. 9.

He asked commissioners to clarify whether unfilled roles are being officially eliminated or simply left vacant, warning that keeping them on paper “sets future commissioners up for failure” and obscures the county’s true law-enforcement capacity. Leaving positions “unfilled” can look like a hiring problem, but in reality it’s a funding problem—a matter of shrinking dollars, not shrinking interest in the job.

Similar arguments are surfacing across Colorado. In Denver, the City Council recently voted against shifting $9 million from the police budget to homelessness programs.

It’s now part of a statewide debate over whether taxpayers are getting what they voted for. Mesa County’s experience poses a larger question for every community in Colorado: when voters say yes to public safety, how long before state demands outweigh and outspend local decisions?