{"id":1316417,"date":"2019-11-04T15:59:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T22:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=990495"},"modified":"2019-11-04T15:59:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T22:59:13","slug":"garfield-county-approves-107-million-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/garfield-county-approves-107-million-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Garfield County approves $107 million budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Post<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Garfield County is dipping into reserve funds for the 2020
\nbudget approved Monday, but commissioners warned of future budget cuts unless
\nrevenues improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless there\u2019s some miracle that happens between now and
\nthe next couple of years, we will have to tighten their budget,\u201d Commissioner
\nMike Samson said Monday.<\/p>\n

The commissioners approved the 2020 budget of $107 million, with
\nprojected revenues around $93 million.<\/p>\n

Operating expenses are fully paid by projected revenues, and
\ncapital expenditures and grants to other institutions, the county is pulling
\nfrom reserves built over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a balanced operating budget, but we do draw down our reserves by about $15 million,\u201d Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said.<\/p>\n

The county also approved the mill levy for 2020, rearranging the total 13.655 mills among the retirement, capital projects, road and bridge and general funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to budgeting, we have a proven track record\u201d
\nof fiscal responsibility, county manager Kevin Bachelder told the commissioners.<\/p>\n

The operating budget includes a 3% merit increase for the 515 staff members, plus equity adjustments. The budget only approves one new staff position \u2014 an additional overnight security guard, mandated by state law, for the Rifle Community Corrections center.<\/p>\n

The county also budgeted $500,000 to fight the lawsuits
\nquarry owner RMR Industrials filed against the commissioners in May.<\/p>\n

While 2020 revenues are projected to increase slightly over
\n2019, declining property taxes from oil and gas development continue
\nto worry<\/a> the county commissioners.<\/p>\n

Data source: Garfield County OpenGov portal and proposed 2020 Budget. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Graphic: Post Independent<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Commissioners have already expressed concern<\/a> about the recent decline in new oil and gas leases this year.<\/p>\n

Without changes to revenues, the county will be forced to
\nmake budget cuts in future years, Samson warned.<\/p>\n

Samson noted that the board of county commissioners had
\nanticipated a time when revenues wouldn\u2019t cover all expenses, which is why they
\nstockpiled reserve funding.<\/p>\n

The reserve funds will total $81.8 million at the end of
\n2020, according to the adopted budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought ahead for the past decade, and we have plenty of reserves. I\u2019m proud to say that we do,\u201d Samson.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garfield County is dipping into reserve funds for the 2020 budget approved Monday, but commissioners warned of future budget cuts unless revenues improve. \u201cUnless there\u2019s some miracle that happens between now and the next couple of years, we will have to tighten their budget,\u201d Commissioner Mike Samson said Monday. The commissioners approved the 2020 budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 14:51:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}