County renews law enforcement contract with Smelterville
The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office will continue to provide daily patrol service to the city of Smelterville after a new contract was signed earlier this week.
File photo
WALLACE – The city of Smelterville will continue to receive 730 annual patrol hours from the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office after the county commissioners signed off on a new contract between the two entities on Thursday morning.
According to Undersheriff Lance Stutzke, the new contract is for two years, with the first year costing Smelterville $55,000 and the second year coming in at $70,000.
This contract obligates the Sheriff’s office to patrol the community for a minimum of two hours each day throughout the year and assist the city with some of its code enforcement if a deputy is needed.
The city of Smelterville and the county have had an on-again, off-again relationship over the past decade, but currently, the city is reportedly pleased with the level of service it's receiving from the SCSO and elected to not only renew the existing contract but also agreed to raise the amount of money they’re paying for the services.
While increasing the revenue from the contract is music to the commissioners’ ears, the county is still coming out on the losing end of the agreement.
Commissioners Dave Dose and Jeff Zimmerman were curious about what the current level of service is costing the county and according to SCSO Patrol Captain Seth Green, that figure was somewhere around $140,000 in 2024.
“So we’re gaining, but we still have a way to go,” Dose said.
Stutzke explained that during the negotiations between the SCSO and the city, they explained that they needed to increase their cost, but to maintain the contract and revenue stream, they agreed to raise the annual rates annually in order to get to the level they needed to be at for the services they desire.
“We’re going to try and build it up over time,” Stutzke said of the contract amount. “If you go percentage-wise, we’re going up a lot. In the past, this contract was dropped and then picked back up. It’s come and gone a couple of times, but either way, we’re going to spend a lot of time in Smelterville.”
According to Stutzke, Smelterville’s business district is a hotbed for criminal activity. Specifically, the new Maverik gas station has already seen its fair share of arrests in the short time it’s been open. This includes a substantial meth and fentanyl bust, where the deputy just happened to be at the station when he initiated a traffic stop.
“The Maverik is going to bring a whole new variety of criminal stopping into the area,” Stutzke said. “We brought this up to the mayor, the more business you bring in, the more it’s going to demand from us.”
Commissioner Dose is pleased with the SCSO for navigating the situation and gaining ground on missed revenue but is concerned by the county bearing much of the tax burden for an incorporated community.
“The county taxpayers are supplementing the city taxpayers,” Dose said. It’s great that we’re trying to help Smelterville out, but the sheriff’s department doesn’t need these non-breakeven situations, but we appreciate the efforts to grow the contract.”
The new contract will go into effect once it is signed by Smelterville’s city administration.