Montezuma County Board of Commissioners on Monday approved a 5% pay increase for Sheriff’s Office employees as negotiations with the police labor union continue.
County officials said the raise, combined with budget adjustments, will fund two detention deputies next year.
The pay raise is through a memorandum of agreement with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 74, intended as a short-term measure while a broader collective bargaining agreement is developed.
Lodge 74 represents Sheriff’s Office employees in bargaining talks.
County Administrator Travis Anderson described the MOA as a “stopgap” that will remain in place through December 2026.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. We need to address some pay scale issues with the Sheriff’s Office and pay plan issues,” he told the county commission Monday.
The agreement replaces Sheriff Steve Nowlin’s previous budget request of a 2% raise with a 5% across-the-board increase. It also aligns the raise with the 5% increase the entire county staff is receiving in the 2026 budget.
“We looked at all the numbers, and we can afford it,” County Commission Chair Jim Candelaria said. “So, I think it makes sense just to make sure we are consistent with the rest of the county.”
County Attorney Stephen Tarnowski said the MOA does not represent the full scope of what is being negotiated under collective bargaining, but reflects progress so far. He said the agreement is supported by county staff as a reasonable interim step and recommended to commissioners.
The MOA comes amid a broader effort by Sheriff’s Office employees to secure a collective bargaining agreement. The ability to enter collective bargaining stems from a 2022 state law that granted several rights to employees in counties with populations exceeding 7,500. The law allows employees to join organizations of their choosing and be represented by them to bargain collectively over wages, hours, health insurance and retirement benefits.
On Jan . 17, the county submitted an official notice of a secret election initiating the formal collective bargaining process under the law. The notice outlined plans for an upcoming election in which eligible Sheriff’s Office employees at the rank of staff sergeant or below voted on whether to proceed with collective bargaining. Only members of Lodge 74 were eligible to vote.
Lodge 74 formed in fall of 2023.
Around the time collective bargaining began, it included about 50 to 60 Sheriff’s Office employees, including sworn deputies and some civilian staff. The lodge is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Police, a national organization representing law enforcement personnel.
The pay increase, funding of additional detention deputies and ongoing labor talks follow a recent history of disputes between the Sheriff’s Office and county commissioners. Officials have disagreed over funding, law enforcement service contracts and financial accounting, among other issues.
Discussions on safety, staffing levels at the Sheriff’s Office and the working relationship with county commissioners are in focus ahead of the November November 2026 county elections, which will fill a commissioner seat and elect a new sheriff.
