The La Plata Board of County Commissioners took its first deep dive into the proposed 2024 budget Thursday. Members of the public may offer public comment on the document Tuesday before the board.
The county’s finance staff proposed a 20% increase in spending next year, from $145 million budget in 2023 to $174 million in 2024, including the addition of 48 staff in the new county public health department.
Finance Director Adam Rogers told commissioners “this has been the most challenging year” as staff contend with a projected decline in sales tax revenue and high material and labor costs.
The county is expecting a 23% increase in property tax revenues, although that could change slightly if Proposition HH passes in November.
Of the anticipated $174 million in expenditures, 46% will fund general government services, which includes those provided by the BOCC, assessor, clerk and recorder, treasurer and public trustee and the surveyor.
Public safety takes the next largest slice of the pie, using 22% of the expenditures; Public works services and health and welfare each use 13%; recreation and culture uses 6% of the budget.
The big question before the BOCC Thursday was where staff could cut $1.2 million from the county’s operating expenses.
Although the proposal presented to staff was balanced from a statutory perspective – expenditures did not exceed the starting fund balance plus projected revenues – it drew $1.2 million for operating expenses from the general fund.
County Manager Chuck Stevens said the general fund is similar to a savings account, and although drawing upon it to cover operating expenses is legally acceptable, he called it a “bad practice.”
“I just don’t think, from a policy perspective, it’s a good thing to do,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said.
Keen observers of the budget may notice that the general fund’s operating expenditures actually runs a deficit of $6.2 million. The other $5 million is transferred over to the county’s road and bridge fund from the sales tax revenue because tax revenue for road and bridge projects is woefully inadequate.
Stevens asked the BOCC for guidance on where staff could look to trim $1.2 million.
“Personnel is off limits,” Commissioner Matt Salka said in agreement with the two other members of the board and Stevens.
County staff are likely to return to individual department heads and ask them to trim their expenditures down to cover the operating deficit. Stevens assured the BOCC that staff would find a way to trim the $1.2 million.
In addition to the new health department, the county will add 10 new positions. The staff hopes to hire three more equipment operators in the road and bridge department, which will allow plow drivers to work eight-hour shifts rather than 12-hour shifts and should bolster the department’s ability to perform road maintenance in the summer.
The county’s general fund is expected to shrink by just under $23 million next year, ending the year at an estimated $18.3 million, largely due to one-time expenditures and capital improvement projects.
Of the $23 million shrinkage in the general fund, $10.5 million will be transferred over to the capital improvement fund. The sudden expenditure is due to several years of backlogged projects that have not been completed due to labor shortages and other economic factors.
Rogers said the county is unlikely to actually spend all the money set aside for one-time expenditures and capital improvements.
The projects slated for completion in 2024 include asphalt replacement in three parking lots, renovations at the former Robert E. DeNier Youth Services Center and the Old Main Post Office and security enhancements on county buildings.
A draft of the budget is available on the county’s website.
The BOCC will hold a public hearing on the budget at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the County Administration Building at 1101 E 2nd Ave in Durango.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
