{"id":2456896,"date":"2020-04-07T23:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=323953"},"modified":"2020-04-07T23:17:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:17:00","slug":"pitkin-countys-financial-health-good-despite-virus-impacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/pitkin-countys-financial-health-good-despite-virus-impacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitkin County\u2019s financial health good despite virus impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/08\/Barbara_ATW-1-7.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/08\/Barbara_ATW-1-7.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/08\/Barbara_ATW-1-7-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/08\/Barbara_ATW-1-7-325x216.jpg 325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Thanks to a large bump in sales tax revenue and 2020 financial planning that included fears of a recession, Pitkin County\u2019s current and post-coronavirus budget outlook is fairly good, officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBecause we budgeted conservatively, it puts us in a better position to deal with some of the loss we\u2019ll see this year,\u201d county Budget Director Connie Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And while it\u2019s too early to know the true financial impacts of COVID-19, county finance officials believe the pandemic will have an approximately $3 million negative impact on this year\u2019s budget, and a possible $7 million impact over five years, said Baker and Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur foresight put us in a position where we can be strategic in how we approach this,\u201d Peacock told county commissioners Tuesday during their regular weekly work session.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, he warned that it was still early in the pandemic to accurately calculate the true impact. In a worst-case scenario, the county could end up having to absorb an approximately $13 million negative impact over five years because of the coronavirus, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019re trying to calculate the unprecedented shock to the economy,\u201d he said, noting that analysts will likely need 30 to 60 more days for a better understanding. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very early in the cycle of this economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County\u2019s budget is generally made up of revenue sources that include sales tax, property tax, use taxes, fee-based monies and government grants. Of those, sales tax is the most volatile, Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Partially due to much higher 2019 sales tax collections, Pitkin County added $3.5 million more to its general fund that was initially budgeted back in December when commissioners approved the $141.7 million 2020 budget, Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That larger sales tax revenue turned out to be 22.4% higher in 2019 than it was in 2018, she said. The increased sales tax, which was reported to the county in February, was thanks to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to collect sales tax on internet sales beginning last year, as well as state court decision that positively affected the county\u2019s sales tax collection, Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In addition, county sales tax collection was up 13% in January over 2019 and estimated to be 10% higher in February, Baker and Peacock said Tuesday. March sales tax is expected to be 50% to 60% lower this year than last March because the economy shut down midway through the month, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The upper Roaring Fork Valley naturally sees a dramatic decrease in sales tax collection in April because of the offseason. However, the combination of more people being kept in town this year than in a regular offseason thanks to restrictive public health orders and anecdotal information indicating an increase in online shopping might temper April\u2019s sales tax losses to somewhere in the 15% to 20% range, Peacock said. The real question surrounds Aspen\u2019s summer economy, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe will probably be unwinding (the public health orders) by then \u2026 but there\u2019s been so many cancellations,\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County experienced a 3.4% drop in sales tax collection after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks and it took two years to regain the losses, Baker said. The 2008-09 recession forced a 17.4% drop in county sales tax collections, which took five years to overcome, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioner George Newman said he thinks the current situation is more akin to 9\/11 than the Wall Street-triggered \u201csub-prime mortgage fiasco\u201d of a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis wasn\u2019t an economic crisis, this was a health crisis,\u201d he said Tuesday. \u201cSo getting back to the 9\/11 scenario \u2026 when people can travel again, it will provide a better turnaround timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The county\u2019s other revenue sources don\u2019t look bad, either.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Property taxes are based on valuations done in June 2018, so revenue projections that fund the Open Space and Trails program, the Ambulance District, the Healthy Community Fund and the library won\u2019t change, Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The fee-based funds \u2014 which include the Community Development Department, the airport and the landfill \u2014 appear to be in relatively good shape, she said. The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport is already slated to receive $3.5 million in federal stimulus funds, Peacock said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Finally, those departments like Health and Human Services, Public Health and Road and Bridge that rely more on government grants and not yet expected to be hard hit by the virus, Baker said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Also, the county is not considering layoffs for county staff members, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County\u2019s outlook is a somewhat reminiscent of the <a id=\"N0x275cee0N0x277c2e0:N0x275cee0N0x292e228\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/town-manager-to-council-snowmass-in-strong-position-to-handle-negative-economic-impacts-of-covid-19\/\">situation in Snowmass Village<\/a>, where the town manager said Monday that despite declining projected sales tax revenue, the municipality is on solid ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jauslander@aspentimes.com\">jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/pitkin-countys-financial-health-good-despite-virus-impacts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to a large bump in sales tax revenue and 2020 financial planning that included fears of a recession, Pitkin County\u2019s current and post-coronavirus budget outlook is fairly good, officials said Tuesday. \u201cBecause we budgeted conservatively, it puts us in a better position to deal with some of the loss we\u2019ll see this year,\u201d county [&hellip;]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 05:25:03","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":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}