Larimer County budget reflects hard times ahead

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

A trip to the landfill will relieve a larger load from your wallet and a $2 admission fee at the county fair may be reinstated. But few will otherwise see direct effects from what Larimer County officials proudly proclaim as an exceedingly tight and conservative 2010 budget.

The more than $290 million draft budget represents a 1.8 percent reduction from the more than $295 million originally budgeted for 2009 - a rare event indeed.

And while other Colorado counties are making more dramatic cuts and tapping reserves, Larimer is still putting some away for a rainy day. An additional $1.9 million would supplement funds reserved to carry the county through any upcoming tough times.

Those stormy days may be coming soon. Property across the county will be reappraised in 2011. Because that reappraisal will be based on current depressed values, property tax collections are likely to decline in 2012 and 2013.

The forecast is similarly gloomy for the detention center. More than $1 million is allocated next year to subsidize operations there due to reduced sales tax revenues. That annual deficit is predicted to approach $14 million when the voter-approved sales tax expires in 2014.

Alternative sentencing programs have kept the detention center population steady. But some are at capacity and need expansion to continue relieving overcrowding and costly expansion of the jail.

Funding also is lacking to hire enough sheriff's deputies, build and maintain roads and bridges, and address poverty and human-service needs.

But the county staff and commissioners at least for the moment prefer to celebrate the art of the possible thanks to a budgeting process aimed at identifying top priorities and directing more dollars to them.

Rather than simply using the previous year's budget as a starting point, the outcomes-based approach employs an elaborate ranking process. More than 100 services are evaluated to identify those most needed and how much the county is willing to pay for them. Top priorities such as public safety suffered no more than a 2 percent decrease while low ones were subject to cuts of up to 6 percent.

"What we're doing here is really pretty revolutionary, pretty amazing," Commissioner Steve Johnson said at the Nov. 16 public hearing in Fort Collins.

The budget is based on the assumption that local property tax proceeds will increase by 3 percent while all other income will decrease by 5 percent.

Employees will not receive salary or merit increases. The equivalent of 27 full-time employees will be removed from the payroll through attrition. Code compliance and building department employees face unpaid furloughs once and twice a month, respectively.

Former Commissioner Glenn Gibson urged the current commissioners to continue gradually reducing the ranks of employees to avoid traumatic layoffs of up to 200 workers when the sales tax dedicated to the jail lapses.

Fort Collins resident Ken Tharp raised a budget concern the county has been loathe to discuss because of its explosive potential - Timothy Masters' lawsuit seeking damages from prosecutors and police who he contends conspired to convict him of a murder for which we was later exonerated. Masters' attorney has said such compensation could be as much as $50 million.

"How much is it worth for a young man to be imprisoned for 10 years and then released?" Tharp asked.

County Manager Frank Lancaster noted that this is another example of the county's liability for state actions. "It's in the courts right now and we'll see what happens," he said, adding that the county will comply with the court's ruling.

No apparent opposition has arisen over plans to increase residential rates at the landfill by an average of 4 percent and by 5 percent at the transfer stations in Wellington and Red Feather Lakes.

Solid waste director Stephen Gillette said the new rate structure is estimated to generate an additional $180,000 annually and will bring Larimer County's rates more in line with nearby facilities. Rates for residential use of the landfill were last increased in 2003. Rates for transfer stations were last increased in 2004.

The minimum load charge for less than one-half cubic yard will be eliminated at the landfill on South Taft Hill Road. A minimum load fee for less than one-half cubic yard will remain in effect at the transfer stations.