Proposed county budget draws little citizen comment
By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News
Larimer County's stay-the-course budget proposal brought in just a handful
of comments during a Nov. 14 public hearing in Fort Collins.
Commissioners will hold some work sessions in December to tweak the proposed
2006 budget and then hold an adoption hearing on Dec. 19 at 11 a.m. in
the courthouse office building.
County manager Frank Lancaster told commissioners the biggest unknown affecting
the county budget is whether the federal budget will result in cuts to
county programs, especially in the area of health and social services.
"We may not know until next fall," he said.
Citizens at the hearing encouraged the county to budget enough local funds
to optimize matches with state and federal dollars. Lancaster responded
that the county budget can be revised throughout the year if matching dollars
are needed to go with additional federal funding.
Commissioners can also use reserve funds to meet emergencies. For example,
this year the commissioners moved $4 million from the general fund reserve
to build a 150-bed work release facility for the criminal justice system,
and they transferred $8 million from the capital expenditures fund for
a new county building in Loveland. Both will be built in 2006.
Next year's proposed budget totals $248.3 million. It reflects a 4.6 percent
increase over the original 2005 budget, but an 8.7 percent decrease from
this year's revised budget.
Here is a breakdown of how the budget is divided among county departments:
- Public safety, including the sheriff and district attorney, $50.67 million.
- Health and human services, $43.69 million.
- Public works, including roads, bridges and the fairgrounds, $40.95 million.
- Facilities, $35.17 million.
- Support services, $25.93 million.
- General government, including the planning department and offices of
the commissioners and other elected officials, $16.43 million.
- Parks and open lands, $16.25 million.
- Solid waste management, $3.78 million.
The county also collects and distributes $2.5 million in property tax designated
for Foothills Gateway, which works with developmentally disabled adults.
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