Clear Creek County’s manager is calling for a 10 percent budget cut across all departments next year to brace for the impact .
County spokesman John Bryan said officials are taking a hard look at all services — including Clear Creek EMS — as they anticipate a 40 percent drop in tax income when the mine shutters. Specifically, they are weighing the services the county is required by state statute to maintain, like a sheriff’s department and noxious weed control, against those that are not mandated.
“Whether that’s in operations, whether that’s in personnel costs, that’s up to division directors to figure out,” Bryan said of where cuts will come.
He added: “We’re really looking at everything.”
The molybdenum mine, which is near the town of Empire, is a major source of income for the 10,000-resident county, accounting for up to 70 percent — or some $14 million — of all property taxes collected in 2015. Mine owner Freeport-McMoRan late last year told the county that because of declining demand for molybdenum, it plans to close the mine in three to five years, than the 10 years they had expected.
The massive mine near Empire has been operating for roughly 40 years and over than span has paid for everything from Clear Creek’s sheriff’s office and schools, to road repairs and the fire authority.
Molybdenum, which is used to harden steel, has dramatically dropped in price over the past several years as oil prices have fallen, slowing demand for piping, and the construction market has slowed worldwide.
A Freeport-McMoRan spokesman said “there has been no change in the status of the Henderson operations.”
Henderson currently employs 310 people, down from the roughly 550 that worked there as of late last year.
One of the expenses being examined is the $1 million spent each year to subsidize the county’s ambulance service, Bryan said. According to Clear Creek EMS’ website, the operator averages 1,500 emergency calls each year and employs 15 full-time paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
“Everything can’t stay exactly the same if we go into theoretically a 40 percent budget cut over the next five years,” Bryan said.
