A shift in how Rock County uses the sales tax it collects could have dire impacts on the Rock County Sheriff’s Office.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office typically funds its squad car purchases with sales tax funds.

Sheriff Curtis Fell says he recently learned that the County Board of Supervisors has opted to spend that money elsewhere.

Fell says if the money for the new vehicles comes out of his regular budget he will have to look at cutting other things including personnel, or push the current vehicles beyond their usable life-span which he thinks would put his staff at unnecessary risk.

Fell says in 2021 Rock County had 32 fatal vehicle accidents, and through proactive enforcement he was able to get that number down to 13 last year. He’s afraid of how he’ll be able to keep up this proactive enforcement without the vehicles his deputies need.