By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Rumors have recently begun circulating that Price City was looking to ax the Price City Police Department and instead contract with Carbon County for law enforcement services. This rumor took center stage at the Price City Council’s work meeting on Wednesday, May 15, with Price City Police Chief Brandon Sicilia asking the council members how this rumor started and if there was any truth to it.
The issue stems from the proposed tentative fiscal year 2026 budget, which currently faces a $900,000 shortfall. Because of this, budget committee members have been exploring every possibility of cutting expenses within the city.
“We’ve added debt that we didn’t plan on that has to be paid now,” explained Finance Director Lisa Richens. “A big thing this year was the medical insurance. Double-digit increase there … Quite frankly, there are more and more mandates, and the state legislature mandates something, and they just expect you to pay for it.”
Chief Sicilia confronted these rumors directly, asking the council,” The last week and a half, I can’t even tell you how many people came to me, and appropriately so, I know we had a recent budget meeting, but they’ve approached me and says that they’ve heard word that the police department is going to be abolished.”
He continued,” Now, I’m concerned for my officers about this. I would like to know what to tell my officers if we’re talking about contracting with another agency. I’d sure like to know. I would like to be a part of that conversation more than any conversation there is. So, what do I tell my cops?”
Councilwoman Amy Knott-Jespersen addressed the Chief, explaining that this was never an active discussion but rather a hypothetical thrown out as they tried to find ways to lower the budget. “We talked about every department in every way we could,” she said. “It wasn’t like this is what we’re going to do.”
Councilwoman Terry Willis added,” We’re not going to unilaterally just say tomorrow, ‘Hey, you’re out of a job.’ But as we’re being told that there’s this amount of money, and we’ve got to figure something out. We’re feeling pretty stuck, but we’re not making any changes that have to do with where the police department is going to be.”
“Like you were trying to figure it out,” said Willis,” and we’re losing sleep over it.”
Sicilia interjected,” Trust me, and I mean, when we’re going through line items, yes, you start losing sleep over it. Next year, I have to consider the absolute necessity of what vehicles need to be replaced, because that’s what I’m down to.”
The tentative budget for FY26 is expected to be a major agenda item in the city council’s May 28 meeting, which will be held at 5 p.m. in Price City Hall. The FY26 budget must be adopted by June 30.