New Deputy For Calaveras County

Calaveras County, CA — Calaveras County is getting a new deputy, but the Sheriff says it won’t ease their staffing shortage.

On Tuesday, the Calaveras Board of Supervisors voted to spend over $90 thousand dollars to hire a deputy since they are getting a federal payment of nearly $70 thousand dollars. Calaveras County has a lot of federal lands which don’t make the county any property taxes. Instead the federal government makes payments on the lands to the county.

However, Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz says this is not really a new position. He says it’s just moving a deputy already on the force to work full-time with probation officers and transporting inmates in the county.

Kuntz says he still needs five new deputies to properly patrol the county. He is hoping to get the Board to go for that when the Board votes on the $139 million dollar fiscal 2012-13 budge. Kuntz says he knows it’s an uphill battle as the cost of the five new deputies will be more than $500 thousand dollars.