La Plata County voters approved all questions on the Nov. 3 ballot except one - the county's request for a 2.4 mill increase in property tax to fund road and bridge operations.
According to preliminary vote totals from the County Clerk's Office, the property tax increase received 6,075 yes votes and 6,566 no votes. So the "no" margin was 51.94 percent to 48.06 percent.
That means the county's total mill levy will stay at 8.5 mills, with 0.710 mills of that for the Road & Bridge Department. According to the County Assessor's abstract of assessed valuations for 2014 (property taxes payable in 2015), total assessed value in the county was $2 billion, reflecting 2012 levels of value.
The abstract lists total county property tax revenue of $17.04 million for 2015, with $1.43 million of that to Road & Bridge.
County property tax revenues have declined sharply since 2010 because of lower oil and gas valuations. The Assessor's Abstract for 2009 (taxes payable in 2010) showed county total assessed valuation at $3.5 billion, with county property tax revenue totalling $30 million, and $2.5 million of that for Road & Bridge.
The county's total mill levy has been 8.5 since before state voters approved the TABOR Amendment in 1992. TABOR requires, among other things, voter approval for any tax increase for any government entity.
County Commissioner Julie Westendorff said of the vote result, "We're just going to use what we get and do the best we can. That will probably mean a continued decline in the condition of the roads. We really don't get enough to maintain them at current levels."
She continued, "We budgeted for next year assuming (the tax increase) wouldn't pass, so next year's budget won't change. But roads that seem to be too narrow will continue to be too narrow, and gravel roads that should be paved will continue to be gravel. That's just the reality."
The commissioners are looking at impact fees on development that affects county roads, but that revenue won't be enough to fill the gap with what's needed, Westendorff said.
"We tried to inform the community the best we could" on the need for the tax increase, she said. "The vote tells us what people think. That's important for us to know."
The county's request to opt out of Senate Bill 152 passed by a large margin, as did similar opt outs in Bayfield, Ignacio and Durango.
SB 152, passed by state legislators in 2005, prohibited local governments from directly or indirectly providing advanced telecommunication services including broadband internet, unless local voters approved an opt out. Advanced was defined as anything above 256k.
The county opt out was approved with 10,770 yes votes to 1,881 no votes.
The county has 40,717 registered voters, and 12,893 of them cast ballots for a turnout of 31.66 percent.
