La Plata County commissioners on Tuesday finalized the 2026 budget, which is less grim than the draft released in September, before voters approved a 1 cent countywide sales tax increase.
The sales tax is expected to generate $19 million annually – up from the $18.1 million projected in the ballot language – and softened what had been a bleak financial outlook heading into the fall. The county had initially projected a $13 million deficit for 2026, and warned of steep departmental cuts and long-term service reductions.
The newly approved 1 cent sales tax has reshaped the county’s revenue landscape. Sales tax collections will account for nearly half of all county revenues next year, a significant jump from prior years and a shift county officials described as historic.
“Without our residents, this budget today would not be possible,” Finance Director Adam Rodgers said at Tuesday’s budget presentation.
The measure marks the first time since 1982 that county voters have approved any tax increase – and the first time ever that a tax has been approved exclusively for county use without municipal partners.
“When the budget team started in June, we were headed down a very different direction,” he told commissioners. “We were facing somewhere around a $13 million deficit, and it’s a very different path than the one we ultimately ended up taking.”
In total, the county approved $136.27 million in expenditures for 2026, a 0.2% increase over the current year.
Projected revenues are expected to rise 2.3% compared with 2024 actual, reaching $125.01 million. Still, officials emphasized that the new funding doesn’t translate into major expansions – only the ability to hold the line.
The budget, county leaders wrote in their annual message, “represents a careful balance between meeting today’s needs and safeguarding La Plata County’s long-term fiscal health.”
Public Works will see the most notable change next year, with a 5.9% increase in expenditures. The department, which maintains roads and bridges, oversees the landfill and weed management, and handles other core infrastructure services, faced a proposed 29% reduction in the preelection draft budget.
A total of $6.28 million is set aside for capital projects in 2026, covering everything from building security upgrades to major road and bridge improvements across the county.
Public Safety and Health & Welfare, meanwhile, are the only two major departments facing reductions – 1.2% and 9.6%, respectively. Human Services funding remains uncertain as state-level policy changes loom, leaving open questions about staffing and program delivery.
However, even with the new revenue, several employee benefit programs will be scaled back in 2026. The budget maintains a previously proposed list of changes, including: 2% base pay increase and 2% to 4% merit raises; a 5% increase in county health insurance premiums; a reduction in paid parental leave from 12 weeks to six weeks, effective April; and a freeze on employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts, to name a few.
County leaders also emphasized a conservative staffing approach.
Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton pointed to the roughly 30 staff positions that have been cut since the fall.
Vacant positions will remain unfilled unless otherwise approved, and the county avoided drawing on fund balances for recurring expenses – a key benchmark of fiscal stability.
A message to voters: “It’s not business as usual.”
During the budget presentation, Rodgers and commissioners stressed the importance of honoring voters’ trust – especially the 44% who opposed the tax increase.
“If you take the time to read the budget message, you’re going to see that the residents of La Plata County are woven throughout that message – their priorities, their concerns, their support,” Rodgers said.
He told commissioners the county has an obligation to demonstrate efficient operations and long-term cost discipline.
“I think we have an opportunity and a responsibility to show that it’s not business as usual,” he said. “We are committed to doing our jobs more efficiently. We’re focused on providing better services at lower long-term costs.”
jbowman@durangoherald.com
