{"id":264972,"date":"2026-04-24T22:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T22:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T22:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T22:07:07","slug":"el-paso-county-seeks-more-data-on-staffing-overtime-as-jail-vacancies-drop-to-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264972\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso County seeks more data on staffing, overtime as jail vacancies drop to zero"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 El Paso County officials say they support the El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office as they continue discussions over the agency\u2019s budget and staffing needs.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued on behalf of Commissioners Court and County Administration, the county said it values \u201cthe dedicated men and women who serve in the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u201d and recognizes \u201cthe important work they do every day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The county also emphasized what it called an equally important obligation to ensure fiscal responsibility and transparency in how public resources are allocated.<\/p>\n<p>The county said it appreciates the sheriff\u2019s commitment to his staff and to community safety, but said it requires \u201cclear data and supporting information to evaluate requests for additional resources\u201d and to ensure those requests align with statutory responsibilities and measurable outcomes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As part of the budget process, the county said it has asked the Sheriff\u2019s Office to prioritize its requests, focusing first on core, statutorily required functions such as detention operations. <\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/kfoxtv.com\/news\/local\/budget-spending-concerns-prompt-county-executive-session-on-sheriff-operations-overtime?src=link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Budget spending concerns prompt county executive session on sheriff operations, overtime<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The county also said it has requested context for initiatives that extend beyond those requirements, along with detailed information on how proposed resources would affect service levels, operational outcomes and areas identified as needing improvement as staffing allocations are considered.<\/p>\n<p>According to the county, preliminary information indicates that overall staffing levels are generally in line with national benchmarks. <\/p>\n<p>The county said this fiscal year is the first time the jails do not have any detention officer vacancies, resulting in more resources available than in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>The county said it recognizes concerns related to overtime and is seeking additional data to better understand and address what is driving overtime, its impacts, and any potential correlation to operational outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Sheriff Oscar Ugarte previously stated that not having enough staff and having overtime have caused issues with their budget. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kfoxtv.com\/sign-up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign up<\/a> to receive the top interesting stories from in and around our community once daily in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 El Paso County officials say they support the El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-264972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}