Agencies throughout the Basin are tightening their belts and the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office is among those taking budget cutbacks seriously. Sheriff Vance Norton says the Sheriff’s Office has worked hard to get expenses down and the numbers speak for themselves. In 2013, the Sheriff’s Office budget totalled approximately $1,156,000 dollars. That number has been slashed by significant amounts each year since and Norton says the Sheriff’s Office is requesting an operating budget of $629,500 dollars for 2017. Some of the cuts include changing out vehicles every 4 years rather than every 2. “We want to keep our officers safe,” explains Sheriff Norton, “but we can make [our vehicles] last that long and save taxpayers money…We are excited to see how lean we can get and know that in the good times we can save a lot of money and not ask for a lot of things.” County budget meetings are now underway for all the districts and agencies under the county umbrella.
