Yes, we are unbelievably fortunate to be as well funded as we are. Our Undersheriff is real big on side scan sonar and ROVs. He and one of the volunteers were instrumental in taking SeaRay 'rich guy toys' and turning them into SAR tools. He has pushed very hard for a very long time, pursuing grants and other funding. Our 'water truck' is about a mil and a half on wheels. We get called for mutual aid on recoveries all over the upper midwest. Minnesota takes a portion of boat registration fees and gives it to sheriff's departments for marine ops, all based on patrolled hours. We are the 2nd most funded. 2nd only to ramsey county which has four paid deputies whose sole function is patrolling lake minnetonka.
We do have our issues, maintenance being one of them. I joined fairly recently and I'm pretty much the main wrench guy in the north detatchment. I put in ~20 hours a week in shop time and I'm finally starting to make a dent on the backlog of maintenance tasks. People is another issue. We have about 9 people who cover the northern half of the county.
There is money to be had. Look into federal grants. Try recruiting a 'writer' who can take on the task of chasing dollars, a college proffessor perhaps. Lots of big companies have money to give and love giving it to a cause like SAR.
