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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — After only two people showed up to talk about the proposed 2010 Garfield County budget this week, the county commissioners decided they needed to work a little harder to get the public involved.
So there will be a second public hearing, on Nov. 16, to give the public a chance to comment on the proposed budget.
The Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on the matter on Nov. 2, after publishing a public notice in the Citizen Telegram, the county's legal paper.
The two residents who showed up to chat, builder Mark Gould and former Garfield County assessor Ken Call, both criticized the county's tax collections and spending policies.
Gould, accusing the county of “collecting more money than they need,” pleaded with the commissioners to cut the tax rate to leave more money in the hands of local businessmen and property owners.
The county has predicted it will collect roughly $71 million in property taxes in 2010, a significant increase from the $44.5 million expected in 2009. The increase is due primarily to increased oil and gas activity in the county, although it also is related to a general rise in property values.
But despite the record property tax collections next year, countered Commissioner Trési Houpt, in 2011, and for the next few years, property tax collections are expected to decline precipitously thanks to the national economic slump in general and the downturn in oil and gas activity in the county.
Relying on a surplus of some $87 million, built up in recent years, Houpt said, the county will still be able to provide services at levels its residents have gotten used to, even if revenues plummet.
“We'll have a healthy county,” she pledged.
But, Gould argued, “Commercial real estate is going to have a downturn, just like residential real estate had a downturn. The county may be in great shape, but its citizens and its businesses are not in great shape.” He maintained that property taxes would be better used by taxpayers themselves.
Commissioner John Martin, conceding that “We've spent money like drunken sailors at times, and we shouldn't have,” reminded Gould that Martin had proposed a tax break for the county's property owners for the coming year, a proposal that has not yet received the support of either Houpt or Commissioner Mike Samson.
“It's only a hundred dollars” to each taxpayer, on the average, Houpt chimed in. She reiterated her belief that the county needs to prepare for tough times in the immediate future, and that a tax break of the kind Martin has proposed would not help individuals much, but could limit the county's ability to provide services.
After hearing from Gould and Call, the commissioners agreed that another opportunity for public comment was needed, and set a second public hearing for the Nov. 16 regular commissioners' meeting.
And this time, Houpt said, the county should publish announcements in more than the public notices columns of the Citizen Telegram, because “not everybody in the county reads the Rifle Citizen Telegram.”
The regular county commissioner meetings start at 8 a.m., in the commissioners hearing room of the county administration building, 108 Eighth St. in Glenwood Springs.
jcolson@postindependent.com
So there will be a second public hearing, on Nov. 16, to give the public a chance to comment on the proposed budget.
The Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing on the matter on Nov. 2, after publishing a public notice in the Citizen Telegram, the county's legal paper.
The two residents who showed up to chat, builder Mark Gould and former Garfield County assessor Ken Call, both criticized the county's tax collections and spending policies.
Gould, accusing the county of “collecting more money than they need,” pleaded with the commissioners to cut the tax rate to leave more money in the hands of local businessmen and property owners.
The county has predicted it will collect roughly $71 million in property taxes in 2010, a significant increase from the $44.5 million expected in 2009. The increase is due primarily to increased oil and gas activity in the county, although it also is related to a general rise in property values.
But despite the record property tax collections next year, countered Commissioner Trési Houpt, in 2011, and for the next few years, property tax collections are expected to decline precipitously thanks to the national economic slump in general and the downturn in oil and gas activity in the county.
Relying on a surplus of some $87 million, built up in recent years, Houpt said, the county will still be able to provide services at levels its residents have gotten used to, even if revenues plummet.
“We'll have a healthy county,” she pledged.
But, Gould argued, “Commercial real estate is going to have a downturn, just like residential real estate had a downturn. The county may be in great shape, but its citizens and its businesses are not in great shape.” He maintained that property taxes would be better used by taxpayers themselves.
Commissioner John Martin, conceding that “We've spent money like drunken sailors at times, and we shouldn't have,” reminded Gould that Martin had proposed a tax break for the county's property owners for the coming year, a proposal that has not yet received the support of either Houpt or Commissioner Mike Samson.
“It's only a hundred dollars” to each taxpayer, on the average, Houpt chimed in. She reiterated her belief that the county needs to prepare for tough times in the immediate future, and that a tax break of the kind Martin has proposed would not help individuals much, but could limit the county's ability to provide services.
After hearing from Gould and Call, the commissioners agreed that another opportunity for public comment was needed, and set a second public hearing for the Nov. 16 regular commissioners' meeting.
And this time, Houpt said, the county should publish announcements in more than the public notices columns of the Citizen Telegram, because “not everybody in the county reads the Rifle Citizen Telegram.”
The regular county commissioner meetings start at 8 a.m., in the commissioners hearing room of the county administration building, 108 Eighth St. in Glenwood Springs.
jcolson@postindependent.com
