The reserve fund is about empty. There isn’t money to fix roads and bridges. And Elbert County is missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars when big energy projects come knocking.
With that in mind, Elbert County commissioners have agreed to place two measures on the November ballot that they hope, if passed, will help the county of 22,000 residents from bleeding money. One is a property tax increase; the other would repeal an exemption of a tool tax.
“We’re kind of reaching critical mass,” Commissioner Robert Rowland said at the meeting.
Rowland said the county faces a projected budget shortfall in 2014 of more than $950,000.
That comes from added expenses for new voting centers, employee benefits and a decrease in revenue from property taxes, among other things.
Elbert County is seeking to reinstate a 1 percent tool tax that exempted oil, gas and wind projects. The exemption cost Elbert County when a new wind farm opened that straddles Elbert and Lincoln counties. A former county commission decided the exemptions would help bring new projects into the county, but it didn’t work.
“It’s tough to say how much it actually would bring in, but it’s something we need to look at,” Elbert County Commissioner Kurt Schlegel said of the tool tax.
The proposal to increase the property tax would bring in about $1 million when those taxes are collected. Elbert County expects a 1 percent decrease in its property tax base for 2014.
Compounding things is that Elbert County has only about , when normally it should have about $1.8 million to $2 million in emergency funds.
If the property tax increase doesn’t pass, then more services — which officials say already are at bare minimum — will have to be trimmed to make up the expected budget shortfall. For example, Elbert County once had 11 property appraisers, but now it is down to two full-time and one part-time appraiser.
“We’ll have to make very painful decisions,” Rowland said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or twitter.com/cillescasdp
