The Broadwater County Sheriff’s Office is reorganizing its staffing structure to maintain service across its 1,200-square-mile territory after voters last year declined to renew a public safety mill levy, leaving the department with more than a third of its budget stripped away.
Background: A Tighter Budget, Fewer Deputies
Broadwater County, home to more than 9,000 residents, relies on a small sheriff’s department to cover a large and growing rural area. After the mill levy failed at the ballot box, the department lost significant funding and saw two deputies retire, compounding the pressure on remaining staff. Rather than propose a new levy this year, Sheriff Mark Wood has pursued a series of operational and contractual arrangements designed to preserve response coverage.
New Positions and Partnerships
A newly created resident deputy position focused on the southern portion of the county was set to be sworn in on June 24 — the same day as today’s date. That part of the county sits roughly 30 miles from the main office, and Wood said keeping response times under half an hour is a core priority for his department. “I don’t want anybody to have to wait over 30 minutes for us to get there when you’re calling,” he said.
To support calls near the county’s southern boundary, the sheriff’s office entered into a mutual aid agreement with the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, providing backup coverage in that corridor. The arrangement reflects a broader regional cooperation model that rural Montana departments increasingly rely on as budgets tighten and staffing challenges persist.
Inside the department, a current detention officer is being cross-trained and sworn in as a deputy in a hybrid detention officer and patrol deputy role. The move allows the office to stretch existing personnel rather than hire additional full-time staff it may not be able to fund.
The department also finalized a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation, under which a hybrid deputy provides summer law enforcement services in that area with the bureau covering the associated cost. The arrangement adds capacity during the busier summer months without drawing on the county’s reduced general budget.
Four volunteer coroners were added to the department’s roster, rounding out a series of moves designed to fill coverage gaps without significantly increasing payroll.
Grants as Alternative Revenue
With no new mill levy on the table for this cycle, the sheriff’s office is actively pursuing grant funding to offset its reduced budget. Sheriff Wood did not detail specific grant targets, but the pursuit of outside revenue reflects a growing reality for rural Montana law enforcement agencies squeezed between rising call volumes and flat or declining local tax support.
Wood emphasized that residents should feel confident calling for help. “It’s important to have enough people working,” he said. “When you call, we’ll be there.”
A Growing Service Area
Broadwater County’s population and the frequency of calls for service have both climbed year over year, putting additional strain on a department already managing a significant geographic footprint. The 1,200-square-mile service area means that even with optimal positioning, deputies face genuine logistical challenges reaching residents quickly — particularly in the more remote southern stretches of the county.
The restructuring represents a practical response to a difficult budget reality: maintain coverage, retain public confidence, and find efficiencies where the funding no longer exists. Whether the combination of new positions, inter-agency agreements, and grant funding proves sufficient will depend in part on how call volumes track against available staffing through the rest of 2026.
Broadwater County is among several rural Montana communities navigating the intersection of population growth and fiscal constraints. Regional economic activity — including commercial development in nearby areas like Bozeman, where new employers are adding jobs — continues to push growth pressures outward into surrounding counties.
