Commissioners approve budget

EAGLE — Your county property taxes rate will not increase. However, your property taxes overall probably will.

The county’s property tax rate has not changed since 2004, and it won’t change next year. When the county commissioners approved the county’s 2016 budget Tuesday, they left the property tax rate alone.

That’s because revenues are increasing slowly, said John Lewis, Eagle County’s finance director.

Property values are back up following a 30 percent crash when the economy tanked. That means the county’s property tax revenue will be up 12 percent in 2016.

Sales taxes are back to 2007 levels, up $400,000 to $8.8 million total.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

That means Eagle County government will have $2.8 million more to spend next year.

That and more

The additional money will be consumed a $3 million increase in the county’s healthcare costs. The county’s health care costs shot up 50 percent over the last five years, Lewis said.

The county is fighting back, though. County staffers get apples-to-apples cost comparisons for comparable medical procedures in different parts of the state.

When the procedure is finished and paid for, the staffer gets 20 percent of any savings.

For example, if an MRI costs $4,000 in one place and $400 somewhere else, the county staffer gets 20 percent of the $3,600 savings — $720.

Also gone is the county’s community grant program. Instead, the county will contract with outside agencies that deliver services that align with the county’s plan.

The commissioners committed $100,000 to the United Way of Eagle River Valley.

Human services deficit

There’s also a $1 million deficit in the county’s public health and human services costs. That shortfall started when the recession hit in 2007, and the county’s public assistance costs spiked. Those costs have not significantly fallen in the recovery.

In 2010 at the peak of the recession, the county’s human services spending was $6.5 million.

Next year, the public health and human services budget is $11.2 million.

The county’s investment earnings, tied to federal interest rates, are down to essentially zero. The county earned $3 million a year in investment income prior to 2008.

It’ll be OK, though

The county has been stacking up money in reserves for years and has a healthy $23 million in the bank, Lewis said.

“We want to thank the department heads and all our staff, who’ve been holding the line on spending,” said Kathy Chandler-Henry, county commissioner.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.