Yesterday we reported that 20 employees of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received a combined total of $2,135,513 in overtime during FY 2026.
We can now confirm that 1,111 employees under Sheriff Oscar Ugarte were paid a total of $23,250,107 for overtime.
This figure is so outrageous that we contacted the El Paso County Attorney’s Office this morning to reverify it. Paralegal Susana Miranda wrote to us at 4:34pm: “The responsive records provided to you is what the Sheriff’s Office provided.”
In order to cover this expenditure, Ugarte would have had to transfer very large sums from programs under his authority.
At 5:00pm, we spoke to Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, the Director of Budget and Finance, and she confirmed that the County earmarked only $3,085,000 for overtime for FY 2026.
There can be no possible excuse to spend $23.1 million on overtime pay in a single fiscal year and we hope and expect the Commissioners Court will immediately call Ugarte to account.
By comparison, the El Paso Police Department has about 1,400 employees, including civilians. Of their $198 million budget for FY 2026, $11.4 million were budgeted for overtime and in the 3rd quarter the staff projected the department would finish underbudget at the end of the 4th quarter.
What is truly incredible is that the Commissioners Court, since last April, has been demanding the same figures we published yesterday and today and has so far received nothing!
This is a total fiasco.