HARDIN - Big Horn County and the city of Hardin are working to separate the law enforcement services they have shared since 1976.

When the governments joined forces 33 years ago, they used a now-repealed Montana law that basically allowed the city to contract with the county for law enforcement services while leaving all other parts of local government separate, officials said during a public meeting on deconsolidation Thursday night.

That situation has been difficult to as city and county governments often have different priorities, Big Horn County Attorney Georgette Hogan said. The two entities quarreled, sometimes in court, for years about separating. Countywide votes to do so failed in 1996 and 2006.

City and county officials and their constituents agree that most of the county's law enforcement resources up to 97 percent are focused on Hardin, and county residents see little response from deputies.

Sheriff Lawrence "Pete" Long Hair said the arrangement stresses the understaffed, underfunded sheriff's department.

And Undersheriff Rondell Davis said local bickering, politics and limited funding make it difficult to hire and retain deputies. "It's kind of hard to get a deputy to stay here," Davis said.

County officials said it takes around $100,000 a year to train, outfit and pay a deputy. Some years, that's about all the city has paid the county for law enforcement services, although the sheriff's department is allowed to have 14 deputies under the county budget. With three recent hires, there are 13 deputies now, Davis said.

The county officials said they want to keep that level of staffing, and that without having primary responsibility for Hardin county responses will be better.

Under an agreement hammered out in mediation this summer, the city and county agreed to a deconsolidation and transition period that goes through July 2011, Hogan said.

The mediation agreement calls for the city to pay $300,000 a year for the next two years with an option to reduce the bill by any funds directed at creating its own department.

If the County Commission and City Council both vote in favor of deconsolidation by an Oct.1 deadline, Hardin can go ahead with starting its department. But that will take about $1 million, and the city has to slowly ramp up a police force, just two or three employees at a time, Mayor Ron Adams said.

The deconsolidation issue could be sent to voters, through a petition, lawsuit or by request of the commissioners or council, Hogan said.

Hogan said the overriding hope among officials is that both the city and county will have full complements so "there are more law enforcement bodies" out serving people.