On Thursday, April 16, El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte warned county leaders that rising overtime and stubborn staffing shortages are pushing his office and the county jails to the brink. Daily operations are being stitched together with extra shifts, he said, and the department needs about 100 more detention officers to keep the lockups running safely. The warning landed during an hours-long budget briefing and teed up a looming fight over whether to grow payroll, cut elsewhere or tap county reserves.
Ugarte sounded the alarm in front of commissioners
Speaking to the El Paso County Commissioners Court at the Juvenile Justice Center on Delta Drive, Ugarte said current staffing faces "an unsustainable level of strain" and that the sheriff's office is often leaning on overtime just to cover routine jail operations. He asked the court for roughly 100 additional detention officers to properly staff the Downtown Detention Facility and the Jail Annex without relying on costly extra shifts. Now in his second year on the job, the sheriff framed the request as a public safety necessity, not simply a staffing wish list. As reported by El Paso Times, the back-and-forth stretched for hours as officials picked through possible options.
Public safety makes up a large share of the county budget
The county's budget book shows public safety programs already eat up roughly a third of the general fund, and the Commissioners Court adopted a general fund of about $495 million for the current fiscal year. With that kind of baseline, any long-term spike in overtime or a 100-person hiring surge would have to be covered by cuts, new revenue or dipping into reserves. Those numbers are laid out in reporting by El Paso Matters.
Jails, overtime and the numbers behind the plea
The sheriff's 2025 annual report spells out the pressure on the system. It lists roughly 574 detention officers, cites "increasing demands" in detention and notes a 14% drop in crime last year even as workloads climbed. The report names the Downtown Detention Facility at 601 E. Overland Ave. and the Jail Annex at 12501 E. Montana Ave., both of which Ugarte said need staffing relief to operate safely. Those figures help explain why he is treating a 100-person boost as necessary to avoid chronic overtime and burnout among detention staff. The agency's annual report and related documents provide the underlying numbers and context for the sheriff's request, according to the EPCSO annual report.
What officials say now and what comes next
County Administrator Betsy Keller told commissioners that the public safety sector had already burned through about 47% of its budget by February, which leaves limited room to simply swallow rising overtime bills. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and other commissioners declined to offer more detailed public comments during the briefing, citing safety and security concerns, though Samaniego stressed the court's commitment to public safety. As reported by El Paso Times, the sheriff and commissioners agreed to keep working the numbers in the coming weeks as the county hammers out its fiscal choices. For residents, the outcome will determine whether Ugarte's plea shows up as new hires, changes in pay or cuts in other county services.
