A dispute over whether the sheriff’s department must wait a year before taking over its own record-keeping was decided last week when the county commission agreed to honor contract language requiring that a year’s notice be given.

"We will still be obligated to the city for some time," said Commissioner Gene Story on Monday after the involved parties met last Wednesday. "It was going to take a while anyway to set up the new system."

Cortez and county law-enforcement departments have shared a single records division since 1994, with each paying half the costs. But studies by Sheriff Joey Chavez and his staff showed that they could do theirs for less than the $172,000 they paid in 1999 (a 36 percent increase since 1997) and, they argued, officers and investigators would have more convenient access to the records.

The commissioners granted the request to start a separate records system. Chavez estimated yearly operating costs would be $100,000, which includes three full-time employee positions, computers, software and training.

Confusion over when the break could begin emerged last week. Chavez and the commission believed the contract between the two departments had expired a year ago, but city officials, along with county attorney Bob Slough, disagreed, interpreting the contract as still active and hence requiring a year’s notice before being terminated.

Under the plan, the city will lose two records employees and the county’s funds when the county begins its own records division on Oct. 1, 2001. Until then the city will process all reports for both departments.