Fremont County Board of Commissioners
Faced with the prospect of declining sales tax collections during this summer tourist season due to the Royal Gorge Fire, Fremont County received more bad news for the 2013 budget in recent weeks. Fremont County Commissioner Ed Norden announced at the June 25th regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners that Fremont County’s allotment from the federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program will be $65,000 less than anticipated.
Norden said the Department of Interior notified the county that it’s’ 2013 PILT allocation will total $1,018,817 which is $65,000 less than what was budgeted last fall. The lower payment is due to the automatic 5.5 percent federal sequestration budget cuts. PILT payments are made to county governments for federal lands that are within a county’s borders on which no property taxes can be collected. Norden sounded a word of caution, "The $65,000 may not seem like a significant amount of money in the big picture of a million, but when we budget for that anticipated revenue, it starts to accumulate.” He said when the county is already living on a very tight budget they have to continue to draw upon the county’s general fund reserves to make up these shortfalls. He said the county cannot continue to operate critical functions of county government by drawing down reserves.
Norden also used time on the agenda during Commissioners’ reports to react to the Colorado Prison Utilization Study that was presented on June 20th to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee by C.N.A. Consultants. Norden commented, "Although the report said that there is balance in the number of beds and the number of inmates, I think there's obvious concern locally that in 2018 the report calls for possible shutting down of the Four Mile and Skyline correctional facilities at the East Cañon Correctional Complex.” Norden said while those prisons don’t have staff to inmate ratios like other prisons it still raises concerns about the loss of jobs.
Norden said one of the comments that concerned him most was the response by Karl Becker of C.N.A. when a senator asked Becker if Four Mile should be moved from a Tier 3 to Tier 3 facility because of the important functions Four Mile plays in staffing inmates for the various Colorado Correctional Industries programs. "Becker responded that you've got the opportunity to move some of those correctional industries programs to other Cañon City facilities or to other locations," Norden said. "That alarmed me a bit more than the other comments simply because Colorado Correctional Industries is one of the better managed programs in Colorado Corrections, and I would hate to see Colorado Correctional Industries turned into a political football over some of these decisions."
Board Chair Debbie Bell said she recently toured the CCI program. "The staggering thing that I did learn is that program here in Fremont County is a $60 million dollar a year program," she said. "We stand to lose an awful lot if some of that has to go elsewhere."
Also at the June 25th Commissioners’ meeting the Board:
- Approved a premises modification for the Shadow Hills Golf Club liquor license;
- Scheduled a public hearing for 10:00 a.m., July 23rd, on a proposed amendment to the county’s zoning resolution dealing with Travel Trailer Parks and the Campground Zone District;
- Announced a meeting of the Central Front Range Transportation Planning Region to discuss regional road projects at 10 a.m. July 29 in Room 207 of the Fremont County Administration Building, 615 Macon Ave.