La Plata County has had the same mill levy or tax rate since 1986, and while the county certainly has grown since then, tax revenues have not risen correspondingly. Now, county officials warn that residents face a financial reckoning. You're watching the local News Network brought to you by fast signs of Durango and Craig's Ace Hardware. I'm Sadie Smith, LA Plata County Voters soon could face what outgoing county manager Chuck Stevens has called a values decision. And that's whether voters will raise taxes to cover county services or accept a lower standard of service than what they've come to expect. The La Plata County Commissioners last raised the tax rate or mill levy in 1986 when it was set at 8.5 mills. That means for every thousand dollars of a property's assessed value, the county collects $8 and 50 cents. A property's assessed value is determined by a specific percentage of its market value, and that percentage or assessment rate is set every year by the state legislature. During the past 15 years, the legislature has continued to tweak the assessment rate to reduce the amount of taxes that property owners pay. But the tweaks have also played havoc with the county's budget. Since 2010, the legislature has lowered the taxable value of property in La Plata County by 12%, while actual property values have risen by 36%. As a result, LA Plata County has seen a 46% loss of $55 million in property tax revenues to add another fly in the ointment. The taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or the Tabor Amendment requires that voters approve proposed increases to the mill levy to generate more tax revenue.

The voters of El Plata County have never voted to increase their property taxes because when Tabor came into effect and the Board of County Commissioners were no longer allowed to set the mill levy rate appropriate for any given budget year, and the voters had to approve it, the voters of La Plata County have never voted to increase the property tax.

According to the county budget summary, property tax revenues are expected to decline by 11.5%. In 2025, the county commissioners cut costs by $45.2 million, but still were left with a budget deficit of $36.5 million. The deficit will be covered by the county's fund balance, but Steven says the county can't keep cutting more without significantly affecting services, nor can it continue to deplete its savings.

I don't believe that we can continue to cut this, this county, this organization over the past 10 years that I've been associated with it, they've done all the belt tightening that they can do. I mean, there's, I invite anyone to look at our budget and find fluff or find excess. 'cause I don't think you're going to. We've done operational improvements, we've done innovations, we've sought efficiencies wherever we can, and I don't know that there's any room left to do operational cuts. The board of county commissioners went through that process last year, and you can watch those budget meetings. They're available online, and you can see that there's not a lot of fluff on our budget.

Steven said the county commissioners and the voters have some tough decisions ahead.

We're going to do everything we can to meet the service level expectations of our constituents, but we're in a very difficult position because we have a finite amount of resources and we have a lot of demand. And so at some point, it's become a, it's going to become a values question for our community. What do we want our county to look like?

Stevens will leave La Plata County in June to take a job in Maryland. Deputy County Manager Kevin Hall, will serve as the interim manager until the commissioner search for and appoint Stevens successor. In the meantime, you can learn more about the county's budget challenges@lpcgov.org. You can learn more about this and other stories at Durango Local News. Thank you for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Sadie Smith.