The La Plata County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the county’s $181 million 2024 operating budget.
A vote on the budget was scheduled for mid-December. However, a last-minute property tax relief bill out of the General Assembly’s special session in November pushed the deadlines back.
The budget formally approves $181,111,527 in expenditures for 2024, an increase of 25% over the approved 2023 budget. Historically, the county has budgeted money for projects that may occur, although some often do not, resulting in lower expenditures than anticipated. Last year, the county used an estimated $102.3 million of its allocated $145.4 million expenditures.
Funding for projects such as the $5 million set aside for the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Service Center contribute to higher spending estimates. For several years, the money has been set aside so that it can be spent when the time comes. When the project gets postponed, county finance staff roll it over to the next year.
The budget approved Tuesday is 5% larger than the $174 million draft unveiled in September.
Of the $181 million, 43% will be spent on general government operations such as administrative work and the offices of the BOCC, assessor, clerk and recorder, treasurer and public trustee and the surveyor. Public safety takes 22%, health and welfare takes 16%, public works takes 13% and recreation and culture consumes the remaining 6%.
As has been the case for the last two years, the county is also directing $5 million of sales tax revenue to the Road and Bridge fund before the money enters the general fund in order to address a structural deficit in the department’s funding. Finance Director Adam Rogers has warned this is likely to be the last year that this is possible.
Several of the county’s five major funds appear in the red this year, although Rogers assured commissioners that the budget both met statutory requirements and is fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.
The General Fund shows an apparent loss of $5,324,935, of which $5 million was redirected upstream to the Road and Bridge Fund.
The remaining $325,000 is made up in one-time revenues and other pockets of the budget.
“Really I have that loss covered, but I wanted to take a conservative view … so it looks like on the surface that I’m losing $300,000 – I’m really not,” Rogers told the BOCC.
The Human Services fund is also in the red next year, running a loss of $226,000. If that happens, the fund would end the year with a projected $2.46 million balance.
“I have total confidence in them that they will take care of that problem, so it wasn’t worth making cuts here and there and I have full confidence in her (Director Martha Johnson),” Rogers said, repeating a point made throughout the budget planning process.
The last-minute number crunching occurred after Colorado General Assembly passed a property tax relief bill in November. The bill lowered the taxable values of homes as well as the assessment rate.
As a result, the assessor and the finance department was left working over the holidays to enact the state’s changes.
“It’s been really hard on our staff,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said from the dais.
The state’s actions deprived the county of about $1.5 million in property tax revenue, Rogers said. For an owner of the average home in La Plata County, the state’s relief plan meant their county property taxes went up by $15, rather than $66, he told the BOCC.
The county is also adding 10 new positions and hopes to fund nearly $20 million worth of capital improvement and other projects that have been in the works for some time.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, the BOCC certified the county’s mill levy of 8.5, the highest amount approved by voters. The board also appointed Commissioner Matt Salka back to the role of board chair. Porter-Norton will return to the role of vice chair.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
