An article in the Journal and ongoing concerns about the county budget led to a tempestuous argument between Sheriff Steve Nowlin and the Montezuma County commissioners Tuesday.
The commissioners then voted to spend up to $50,000 on a forensic audit of the sheriff’s office and detention center.
Commission Chair Jim Candelaria questioned Nowlin, who had been asked to come to the board’s regular meeting, about a July 9 Journal article saying that the Montezuma-Cortez Narcotics Investigation Team would be disbanded because of budget cuts to the sheriff’s office. He read parts of the article, which quoted Nowlin as saying, “My resources have been cut by the commissioners, and it’s just the way that it is. I can’t provide the public safety that we once did, which is really sad.”
Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Victor Galarza was quoted as saying, “Due to the budget cuts ... they’ve cut the legs right out from underneath it (the narcotics team), and we could no longer afford to have the Montezuma-Cortez Narcotics Investigation Team.”
Galarza, a member of the team, was recently awarded an Outstanding Service Award from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Journal reported that Galarza will be leaving to find a job somewhere else.
On Tuesday, Candelaria said this was the first the commissioners had heard of the team being disbanded.
Nowlin responded, “Who said it was disbanded? I didn’t.”
He said he simply cannot put any more people on the drug task force because the sheriff’s office is short-staffed and it takes up to two years to train a detective to work on that team.
“When did we cut your budget?” Candelaria asked.
“You didn’t cut the budget. You didn’t fund what we asked for,” Nowlin said.
“There are a lot of people in this county that did not get funded for what they asked for,” Candelaria said.
He and Nowlin then wrangled over specifics of the sheriff’s budget.
“I could not put any more people within the drug task force,” Nowlin said. “I had to remove a crime analyst because I needed deputies both on patrol and the detention center, mostly in the detention center. That has the highest turnover rate.”
Nowlin spoke about the shortages on his staff. “By losing one of the drug task force detectives, I don’t have anybody to put in there,” he said. “I can’t contribute anything to that right now, but there are plans for that to happen later this year or at the first of 2027.”
“So, what does the term ‘disbandment’ mean to you?” Candelaria asked.
“I don’t know where that came from. It was discontinued, as far as I’m concerned,” Nowlin said, later adding, “You brought me in here because of an article? I didn’t write that.”
Saying the sheriff had returned unspent money at the end of budget years, Candelaria told him, “You’ve got plenty of money. You can move your budget around. You can move your line items around.”
After more discussion and argument over details of the budget, Candelaria said it was disheartening to read statements like the quotes by Nowlin in the article. He also criticized the Journal for not calling the commissioners to get their side for that article.
“The statement you made is inaccurate and not true,” Candelaria told Nowlin.
Nowlin reiterated that he wasn’t saying the drug task force would be disbanded.
“It’s not disbanded, it’s not in operation like it was because I don’t have anybody to put in there, do you understand?” Nowlin said. “I have no detective to actually participate in that.”
“The budget cut has not happened,” Candelaria said.
He said the sheriff’s budget actually increased from 2025 to 2026, but Nowlin said that was because of increased salaries and fringe benefits.
Noting that there was “heavy discussion” about how funds are allocated and spent, Commissioner Kent Lindsay then made the motion to allocate $50,000 for a forensic audit of the Sheriff’s Office and detention center going back five years. That passed 3-0.
Candelaria then noted that the sheriff had not yet submitted a budget for 2026 and said he was going to call on the Sheriff’s Office leadership team.
Nowlin said the budget was in the process of being developed and will be done by Friday. “You know what? We’ve been pretty busy and short-handed,” he said.
He criticized the way the county budget is developed, saying budget discussions used to be done in public in the commission room, but now he doesn’t even hear from the other two commissioners.
“It’s just you and your administrator and that’s it,” Nowlin said.
Candelaria said the work is done by a three-member budget committee and he is the commissioner who sits on it.
He then returned to the comments in the Journal article. “The lies that you have been budget-cut,” Candelaria said. “It’s not true, it’s inaccurate, it’s dishonest.”
“It’s not dishonest,” Nowlin said. “You can paint it any way that you want, but I’m looking at each one of those line items.”
Candelaria cut Nowlin off, saying, “You were dismissed, sir.”
“Really,” Nowlin said. “And this is a court.”
Later in the meeting, Candelaria criticized comments on social media that said he had supported building a Dollar General store on Road N because his construction firm would be building the road. Candelaria said that was untrue.
He finished the meeting by saying, “If you get your information from social media and/or the press, it’s probably fake news.”
