HELENA — Broadwater County Sheriff-Coroner Nick Rauser says he is moving forward with cuts to services after voters rejected renewing and making permanent a public safety levy.

Sheriff Rauser detailed the cuts in a letter posted to social media.

Voters passed the original levy in 2020, and since it was not renewed, it is set to sunset this year.

With the levy's failure, more than a third of the sheriff's office budget is lost.

In the letter, Sheriff Rauser said, "This vote was, in effect, a vote to defund law enforcement in Broadwater County."

Without funding from the public safety levy, Broadwater County Sheriff's Office will lose about $1.2 million a year and see significant cuts effective immediately.

Rauser detailed those cuts in the letter and said they would result in a "fundamental shift in what we are able to provide."

Rauser said multiple positions will be cut, including the Townsend area School Resource Officer, which he says is a step back in school safety.

The loss of funding also means there will be no dedicated deputy for the county's south end.

Other changes outlined include not filling an open position after another deputy retired, requiring the full-time detective to work patrol shifts, and housing inmates from other counties or the state to offset the funding loss.

The Facebook post garnered more than 150 comments, with several people commenting that the language on the ballot was confusing.

If passed, the 2025 public safety levy would have made the 2020 levy permanent and capped funding at the current level but allowed for temporary reductions in the tax collected.

Rauser said he has heard from some members of the public about their confusion on the language of the levy.

With that, he asks the community to get informed, attend public meetings, ask questions, and speak with one another and the sheriff's office.

Sheriff Rauser says the county will go back to voters in June of 2026 with another levy to try and restore some of the staffing and services they had to cut.