KIOWA, Colo.—Elbert County commissioners are reconsidering a tax limit that has left them strapped for cash while Lincoln County reaps the benefits of wind power after Elbert County voters approved a sales-tax increase with strings attached.
Lincoln County now gets the benefits after a new wind farm that straddles both counties became operational in December.
A few years ago Elbert County voters approved a sales-tax increase with a mandate that the county could not tax equipment on new projects because it wanted to be business-friendly.
Lincoln County had a use tax on each wind turbine and netted $2 million before the wind farm started running.
Elbert County commissioners want to put a measure on the November ballot asking for a similar tax, maybe 1 percent of the cost of the equipment, Commissioner Kurt Schlegel said.
Elbert County began the year with just over $6,000 on the books, and future revenue from property taxes is expected to decrease. Any new money would be welcome in this county of only 22,000 residents.
“We just keep circling the drain, and it’s unfortunate,” Schlegel said.
The majority of the Limon Wind Farm is in Lincoln County. Of the 125 wind turbines, 104 are in Lincoln County and 21 are in Elbert County, said David Winchester, site manager for the wind farm that is operated by NextEra Energy of Florida.
If Elbert County collected a 1 percent use tax per turbine, it would have netted about $400,000 based on the amount that Lincoln County received.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
