Northwest Missouri could lose its only dedicated officer from the Missouri State Water Patrol.

The officer in St. Joseph is one of seven possible Water Patrol layoffs the Department of Public Safety is proposing to save $467,508 from the state budget.

That cut is in the middle of a list of multiple other proposed cuts that would total nearly $2.44 million — a list the governor’s office asked department heads to prepare in light of lower-than anticipated state revenue.

The governor previously was considering a $1.5 million cut to the Tour of Missouri, but he announced last week that slash was off the table.

The seven Water Patrol layoffs remain under consideration.

“This is one way we thought we could do it if we had to do it,” said Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell. “The objective is always going to maximize the use of officers to get the best protection to the public.”

Of the seven positions that could be eliminated, three now are vacant, plus one of the officers has temporarily left to serve in the U.S. military, according to the proposal.

In addition to the St. Joseph officer — “the only patrol officer from Kansas City north to the Iowa border” — the patrol could cut two officers from the Lake of the Ozarks, one Mississippi River officer — the only one from St. Charles north to Iowa — two officers from the Niangua River and the only officer who patrols Bull Shoal, North Fork Lake, Bryant Creek and White River.

There are 96 officers statewide, 22 at Lake of the Ozarks.

Mr. O’Connell said it hadn’t yet been determined how Northwest Missouri coverage would change if the St. Joseph officer is laid off.

“It’s too early to know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Water Patrol officers are not tied to a certain territory. They are all subject to transfers and movement.”

A Water Patrol presence in St. Joseph, while sporadic, goes back as far as 1965, according to state records. The patrol assigned an officer to St. Joseph in 1965, 1967 and 1969. The patrol also located an officer in nearby Mound City from 1973 to 1978.

The Water Patrol made Northwest Missouri its own district in 1986. Northwest Missouri previously had been included in a bigger district “that spanned the area from Dallas County northwest to the Iowa border,” Mr. O’Connell said. The borders of District 6 now run from Jackson County to Cooper County in the south and Atchison County to Mercer County in the north.

The Water Patrol moved an officer to St. Joseph in 1986, where that presence continued until 2003. From 2003 to mid-2008, the position was open and an officer who was stationed in Platte City to help cover Smithville Lake also patrolled Northwest Missouri waterways. Then in June 2008, the patrol assigned a full-time officer to St. Joseph, who also patrols Smithville Lake. The Platte City officer also still patrols the Missouri River north of the lake.

If Mr. Nixon opts to make the cuts, Mr. O’Connell said he wasn’t sure if they would take effect immediately or later in the year.

“The proposed cuts from the departments are being reviewed, and a decision on which to implement at this time will come within the next few weeks,” Scott Holste, a spokesman for Mr. Nixon, wrote in an e-mail to the News-Press. “Until decisions are made on specific proposals, we won’t know exactly how those cuts will be implemented.”

Alyson E. Raletz can be reached

at alysonraletz@npgco.com.