Police staffing for the Island County Fair and other South Whidbey community events may dwindle as county officials look for ways to combat a huge budget deficit.

Sheriff Mark Brown said Monday he’s looking at overtime paid to officers who help out at the fair, the Maxwelton Fourth of July Parade and the annual Freeland Fourth of July fireworks show.

“They’re all great events and I love them,” Brown said. “But I’m fighting tooth and nail not to let any officers go.”

Island County is facing a $1 million budget shortfall this year because of losses in investment income due to the faltering economy.

That’s on top of a $2 million deficit in December that required the layoff off 11 full-time and seven part-time workers and 31 total job cuts.

County commissioners are pushing department heads to find savings in their budgets wherever they can. Brown said he’s focusing on training and overtime.

“We’ve already cut way back on training, and I’m watching overtime like a hawk,” he said. “This is the best chance I have at savings. I don’t want to lose people.”

Brown said he has 43 commissioned officers in the sheriff’s office. He said the Island County force is the sixth smallest in the state serving the 10th largest unincorporated area.

His budget last year was about $5 million for patrols and investigations, and another $2 million for jail operations, he said.

Brown said most of the work at community events such as the fair and the parade is done by the sheriff’s office’s 19 reserve officers, with regular officers helping out on occasion. They patrol the area on foot and bicycle, and direct traffic.

He said the fair reimburses the sheriff’s office about 20 percent of the cost of staffing the event. The sheriff’s office absorbs all the staffing costs of the other two events, he said.

Brown said he’s reluctant to ask for a larger reimbursement from the community events.

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” he said. “When everybody’s bleeding, can I ask them to bleed a little more for me?”

Brown said he will make a detailed study of his overtime expenses before making a decision about event staffing.

“When things are tight, we need to look to the most important areas, public health and safety,” he said. “Our manpower’s already depleted.”

“Crime will not go down during this economic crisis,” he added. “I think we have to be prepared for that.”