Property tax increase for Eagle County Conservation District passes by wide margin
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Property owners in Eagle County passed a property tax increase on Tuesday for the Eagle County Conservation District, breathing new life into the more than 70-year-old district.
Tuesday’s tax question went out to anyone who was a registered voter in Colorado and owns property in Eagle County. District officials said they were expecting about 7,000 people to vote and received a turnout of 7,871 voters, who overwhelmingly approved the tax increase of 0.15 mills, which amounts to about $10 annually on a $1 million home.
Executive Director Laura Bohannon said that while the conservation district did not want to ask for a large levy, it has reached the point where it will require a new revenue stream.
“It is a such a sensitive time for taxing,” she said. “We went for the smallest mill levy for that reason, we didn’t want it to affect people’s day-to-day lives.”
Nevertheless, “the outcome is so great,” she added. “There’s so many benefits.”
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The Eagle County Conservation District was formed in 1950 as a result of the Colorado Soil Conservation Act of 1937. For much of its history, it was a relatively inactive district that faced limitations due to insufficient funding.
However a pivotal change occurred a few years ago when the conservation district collaborated with Eagle County to bring on a full-time district manager, enabling the district to apply for state and federal grants.
Those grants, however, only provide temporary funding.
“When you hire staff, based on those grants, it’s really disheartening and unfortunate to lose those that staff because the grant goes away,” Bohannon said.
The new mill levy will provide roughly $645,000 annually for the conservation district, money it says will be primarily focused on programs that help with wildfire preparedness, wildlife habitat and water supplies and health.
How exactly that will play out will be based on budget decisions made at upcoming board meetings.
“We already have programs that address all of those things, but now that we have secured a mill levy, we can start becoming more targeted with those dollars,” Bohannon said.
In recent years, the conservation district has formed partnerships with various municipalities, nonprofits and organizations that are focused on natural resources. The new revenue stream will help the district broaden those partnerships, Bohannon said.
“The goal this winter is to go back to all of those people and say now we have the dollars, let’s start being more specific on those needs that we discussed,” she said.
The district’s board meetings are open to the public and take place on the second Wednesday of every month at 5:30 p.m. at the Eagle County Road and Bridge office, located at 3289 Cooley Mesa Rd. in Gypsum.
