Wasatch County has proposed a 2026 budget of $129 million, including nearly $19 million for the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Jared Rigby requested an additional $2.2 million in funding for next year, about half of which would be used to hire nine new employees.
At a public hearing Wednesday, Dec. 3, Rigby told the council his office is seeing higher turnover than usual.
“Even though it’s been standard to have about 15% of our workforce that’s always retiring or going to another division or another agency, right now it’s about 25%,” he said. “It’s still lower than a lot of other agencies.”
Rigby said seven of his employees have left in the past eight months to work for Heber City instead.
“Love them to death, Heber City Police Department, but they pay more, is the bottom line, and they recruit our employees,” he said.
Data from the office of Utah’s state auditor contradicts Rigby’s claim. Those records show the median compensation for a Heber City police officer – including wages and benefits – was about $137,000 in 2024. For a sergeant, it was about $177,000.
For the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office, the median compensation for a patrol sergeant was $194,000 in 2024, including wages and benefits. For deputies and corrections officers, the median compensation was between $142,000 and $146,000 last year.
Rigby said it is time-consuming to hire and train new deputies. And it’s expensive: he estimates at least $100,000 for each person’s training.
“It takes about six months to get someone hired,” he said, “and then they’ve got to be going to the academy, and then when they get back, they need to do field training.”
The sheriff said his staffing request is in response to “a lot of complaints over the last year,” especially about traffic enforcement around the Jordanelle Reservoir area, which is seeing rapid growth.
“I feel like it’s really important for us, as an office, to be focusing in the north area,” he said.
During public comment, Xela Thomas, a former reporter at the Wasatch Wave, said Rigby’s requests should not be granted until his department’s budget is audited by a third party. She nodded to the investigations into the sheriff's office earlier this year.
“Contrary to your two-page press release of Judge McKelvie’s $34,000 investigation report, there was mismanagement, and there has been liable acts, and possibly criminal acts that have occurred,” she said.
Thomas also previously worked in law enforcement at both the Wasatch County Sheriff's Office and the Heber City Police Department.
The retired judge’s 65-page report, published in September, detailed allegations of absenteeism, misuse of public funds and fears of retaliation in the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office.
The county council decided to take more time to review the list of proposed positions and potentially make some cuts.
Councilmembers also want to spend more time with the parks and recreation budget, which has a Truth-in-Taxation hearing scheduled for Dec. 9. The parks and recreation department is a special service district, so it has its own budget process.
The council will continue budget discussions at its meeting Dec. 17.
