Montezuma County Commissioners approved a forensic audit into the sheriff’s office and detention center at a Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. An internal investigation is also underway.
The action was taken after Sheriff Steve Nowlin and MCSO Detective Sgt. Victor Galarza told The Journal commissioners made budget cuts that led to the Montezuma County Narcotics Investigation Team’s disbandment – a claim commissioners vehemently disputed.
BOCC Vice Chairman Kent Lindsay moved that the commissioners approve the forensic audit of the detention center’s and sheriff’s office’s finances for the past five years, which he estimated could cost around $50,000.
With a forensic audit, a “clearer picture” of funding could be painted and would settle the dispute “one way or another,” he said.
“There was a lot of discussion in this last primary election about transparency,” Lindsay said. “Let’s bring it all to the surface.”
A tense discussion between commissioners and Nowlin ended with Nowlin being dismissed from the meeting.
Galarza told The Journal on June 29 he would be leaving Cortez due to the narcotic team’s disbandment. Following his and Nowlin’s statements, the BOCC posted on Facebook that they didn’t know the team had been disbanded.
At the meeting, the BOCC displayed a large photo of the sheriff’s office’s budget during Nowlin’s tenure from 2015 through the present. According to the data, the sheriff’s office was given a budget of $6,990,875 in 2025 and a budget of $7,341,485 in 2026.
BOCC Chairman Jim Candelaria asked Nowlin about the disbandment of MCNIT.
“Who said it’s been disbanded? I never said it was disbanded, we’re just not operational with it,” Nowlin said.
Candelaria later asked what the word “disbandment” means to Nowlin.
The conversation shifted back and forth between discussions of MCNIT and the budget.
“You didn’t cut the budget; you didn’t fund what we asked for,” Nowlin said when the topic veered back to the budget.
Candelaria said a lot of people didn’t receive the funding they requested.
Outside of the sheriff’s office’s budget, it was revealed that $91,000 in capital funds was approved for radio and taser upgrades for the detention center; $71,000 for a “fully upfitted” detentions transport van; and $47,000 was discussed and approved – although is still in review – for rifle-rated armor. An additional $101,000 was reportedly added to various other line items in the budget after the sheriff’s office’s contract with Dolores was completed.
Later on in the meeting, following the discussion with the sheriff, the BOCC shared that the total loss in tax dollars for the county in 2026 is currently $876,775.94. With the decrease of oil and gas – particularly with Kinder Morgan, the biggest producer in the county – it is difficult for budgets to be put together where everyone is satisfied.
The tax money generated from 2018-2026 hit its peak in 2020, with $4,344,879.73. This year, that amount is $2,192,390.25.
It was also noted that the 2025 (unaudited) returns from the sheriff’s budget was $509,507 for the sheriff’s office and detention center.
“How can you make that statement (about the budget being cut)?” Candelaria asked.
Nowlin said the budget cut happened with resources and the budget increased because of increased salaries and fringe benefits.
Galarza was the sole representative from the sheriff’s office for MCNIT, but his departure leaves that position empty.
Nowlin has recently removed a crime analyst from his role and into another role because the office was short on patrol deputies and in the detention center, where the turnover rate is the highest. He said he is shy of two detectives. The office currently has one certified detention deputy and is waiting for the three recent hires to go through their first phase of training.
The conversation moved back to MCNIT, with an unapproved request of $15,000 for “dope buy money” – money used for undercover officers to buy drugs from suspected drug dealers – was brought up. Nowlin said there was no asset forfeiture seizure money left, and there had only been $60,000 in operating money to pull from for the year.
“There are line-item adjustments that can be made if you felt that it was absolutely a priority to you,” Candelaria said, adding that the buy money hadn’t been approved because “we did not feel that it was pertinent to this community to spend $15,000 for dope buy money.”
Candelaria said that Nowlin’s leadership team would be called to submit the 2026 budget since it has not yet been submitted by the sheriff.
Nowlin said the budget was in the works and would be finished by Friday.
“We’ve been pretty busy and short-handed,” he said.
Nowlin also requested that the budget decisions for MCSO be done in public to avoid the “nonsense” and misunderstandings currently taking place.
“Absolutely,” Candelaria said. “The lies that you have been budget-cut, it’s not true. It’s inaccurate. It’s dishonest.”
The sheriff once again tried to explain some of the line items in his budget.
“No, that’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 –”
Before Nowlin could finish his sentence, Candelaria dismissed him from the meeting.
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