Utah County approves transfer of restricted funds to hire one full‑time judicial deputy

Utah County commissioners voted to transfer restricted funds from the 2023 budget to the sheriff's office to fund one full‑time judicial deputy at the Health and Justice Building security checkpoint.

Yvette Rice of the sheriff's office told the commission the position has been requested repeatedly during her stewardship of the judicial support bureau. She cited Utah statute 17-22-27 and related code sections and cited a security assessment by Chris Palmer, director of court security for Utah State Courts, that recommended regularly assigned personnel at screening points. "The screening point is critical to maintain a weapon of recourse, and the deputy selected for this post should be regularly assigned to the court as a primary post," Rice said.

Rice described an incident in which a deputy spotted a folded plastic handgun in the X-ray at the magnetometer and emphasized that the checkpoint is the only screening point before entering several courtrooms. She said daily screening volumes have risen: "we have had an increased patronage through that security checkpoint of almost 70%... 69.57% over the 2020 and 2021 statistics." Rice said the sheriff's office requested one position (the assessment recommended two) and that existing restricted funds from the 2023 budget would be transferred into the sheriff's salary and benefits line—no new appropriation was required.

A motion to approve the transfer carried by voice vote. Commissioners confirmed the transfer simply moves previously reserved dollars into salary lines for the position. The commission recorded the vote as unanimous (3-0). The decision implements the staffing change immediately and does not add net new funds to the county's overall adopted budget.