VICTOR — Colorado’s budget woes could mean wage cuts for state workers, fewer tax breaks for businesses and less money for schools.
But for this historic “City of Mines,” incorporated more than a century ago and about 6 miles from the gambling town of Cripple Creek in Teller County, the state’s shortfall could force it to fold.
Victor is among dozens of local governments, nonprofits and social-service agencies that get grants from the state’s gaming- impact program, designed to help communities deal with problems caused by casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.
Gov. Bill Ritter has proposed a one-year suspension of the grant program — approved by the legislature in 1997 and funded with gambling tax revenue. Its $5.5 million would go toward closing the state’s budget gap of roughly $2 billion for the current fiscal year, which began in July.
“It could be absorbed by the county,” Victor Mayor Buck Hakes, whose inaugural term started Thursday, said of his hometown. “We definitely want to keep the city. This place has a really neat identity.”
Though billed as one-time grants, the gaming-impact funds have become the lifeblood for Victor.
The city has depended on the money for the past decade to counter a surge in traffic and crime stemming from casino gambling.
A quaint town of 454 residents about 120 miles southwest of Denver, its three primary roads see 2,400 vehicles daily, many heading to and from Cripple Creek.
The Victor Police Department responded to 5,200 service calls in 2008, about 2,000 more than the previous year. The bulk were gaming- related, from traffic stops to disputes involving casino workers.
And things have worsened since 24-hour gambling and higher bet limits took effect in July, Victor officials say.
Gaming funds critical to budget
Victor had banked on $357,100 from the gaming fund in 2010 to pay for police, fire and street-maintenance operations. The funds would cover the salaries of seven of its 10 city workers, including the entire Police Department.
About a half-dozen local businesses generate just $24,000 in annual sales-tax revenue for the city’s operating budget.
“They’ve got this behemoth next to them and no residents, no revenue and a lot of cars passing through,” said state Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder. “It sounds like they’ve got quite a problem and no way to get money to pay for it.”
Victor’s Police Department would normally have one chief and three officers. Even with just two officers and no chief on the payroll, the city’s preliminary budget for 2010 is already in the red by $217,000.
Victor may close its municipal court. It is contemplating turning off the lights downtown between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
When issuing grants, state officials stress the possibility that funding could get cut and the awards should not be seen as a sole or guaranteed source for operating expenses, said Linda Rice, a spokeswoman for the Department of Local Affairs, which oversees the program.
“We’ve never seen an economy this bad in our lifetime before,” Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said. “The governor has been very careful to take a very balanced and fair approach so that no one particular area suffers disproportionately.”
Dreyer notes the gaming-impact program is not included in proposed budget cuts for the 2010-11 fiscal year starting in July, adding that the one-year freeze is “another example of how everyone is being asked to make a shared sacrifice.”
Others will also feel the pain of the proposed suspension of the program. Teens Inc., a nonprofit in Nederland that provides jobs and after-school programs for youth, will lose about 15 percent of its $350,000 budget.
That’ll force the group to trim programs, close Saturdays and hire fewer teens, executive director Stephen LeFaiver said.
Prospect Home Care and Hospice, which serves Teller County, will have to cut back on house calls. The nonprofit gets $25,000 to $50,000 from the fund.
The El Paso County board of commissioners says Teller and El Paso counties will lose nine district attorney staff members, among other cuts.
Pommer, a member of the state’s Joint Budget Committee, said the program’s beneficiaries face long odds in fighting the proposed cut, which requires legislative approval. A decision could come in January, when the funds would typically be dispersed.
“Given all the problems we’re going to be facing in the budget, I don’t know that these areas have the (political) clout to get it done,” Pommer said.
He doesn’t need to tell Victor Police Sgt. David Trump. When asked about the looming cuts, the anguish on Trump’s face tells the story.
“It would devastate this town,” said Trump, who could be out of a job come January.
Before voters in 1990 passed the measure that approved gambling in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, Victor had a chance to become a casino town, but decided against it, said former Mayor Serena Bielz, whose term ended Thursday.
“More law enforcement problems”
Victor wanted to preserve its mining town history without the headaches of slot machines and related problems. Now the town is scrambling to find ways to stay afloat.
The city may be forced to combine its Police Department with Teller County, though the county is planning to cut four positions.
“These are things that are going to create more law enforcement problems,” said Bielz, whose main gripe is that 100 percent of the gaming money will be taken away, rather than just a piece of it.
Victor would have to use the city’s entire general fund reserves to close its own budget gap in 2010. That means no backup funds for emergencies or for 2011, when there’s no guarantee the gaming-impact program funds will return.
Sitting at the local convenience store, new Mayor Hakes tries to remain positive: “We will survive because we have to.”
But his downcast eyes can’t hide the uncertainty that lies ahead for Victor.
“Every year we get this money, rely on it to pay our wages. When it’s cut off, we have no plan for alternate funding,” Hakes said. “It’s kind of like cutting the end of the table off for us.”
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
