FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 13, 2007

Boulder County Commissioners approve 2008 budget of $265.5 million

Contact: Barb Halpin, Public Information Officer, 303-441-3399 or bhalpin@co.boulder.co.us or Bruce Knight, Budget Office, 303-441-3498 or bknight@co.boulder.co.us

The Boulder County Commissioners today approved the 2008 Boulder County budget of $265,522,242 for all funds. The budget includes funding allocations that will specifically target county priorities such as increasing public safety, reducing drug-related crimes and jail time for non-violent offenders, improving forest health by addressing fire mitigation and mountain pine beetle issues and other top burner initiatives that include increased sustainability efforts, support for local nonprofits, and improvements to open space.

The 2008 budget is approximately $14 million less than the 2007 approved budget due to a number of one-time capital expenditures in 2007 paid for out of specific sales tax funds. The most significant expenditures in this category were improvements to the Boulder County Recycling Center (paid for out of the Recycling Fund), capital fund disbursements for the construction of area training facilities (from the Fire Training Centers Fund), and the purchase of key open space properties (from the Open Space Capital Fund).

From September through November of this year, the Board of County Commissioners held over 30 hours of public hearings to solicit comments and requests for funding in 2008. With today’s final adoption, the County meets the state’s deadline of December 15 to approve next year’s budget.

Funds from 1A will support breadth of services and improvements

Ballot Issue 1A, passed in 2005, allows Boulder County to retain property tax revenues received in excess of the TABOR limit. As mandated by 1A, in 2008 Boulder County will spend at least 20 percent of the additional revenue on health and human services (including 7 percent on non-profits), at least 30 percent on public safety services, and nearly 7 percent on environmental sustainability efforts.

Allocations in 2008 from the County’s 1A funds will provide funding for:

60 nonprofit agencies plus the Mental Health Center,
Public safety investments, including opening the new Communications Center at the Jail site in 2008, and
New and ongoing environmental sustainability initiatives.

New programs and initiatives in 2008

County to ramp up forest health efforts

A healthy forest is essential to protecting the safety of residents and visitors, as well as safeguarding ecosystems and wildlife. Several County departments and divisions are collaborating on a comprehensive plan for forest health that will integrate wildfire mitigation, tree thinning and preparation strategies for infestations such as the mountain pine beetle.

The Forest Health initiative is a new collaborative project between the Sheriff’s Office, the Parks and Open Space Department, the Land Use Department and the Commissioners’ Office. The funding of approximately $275,000 is from a combination of General Fund and Open Space Sales Tax revenues that will help Parks and Open Space and Land Use staff bolster existing forest health programs and launch new efforts.

Funding will also be provided for a new position of Fire Management Officer to improve the fighting and prevention of wild land fires.

“We want to ramp up our efforts on our Open Space lands and work with the public to help people implement forest management on their private properties,” County Commissioner Will Toor explained. “We hope to avoid forest-related emergencies such as what we’ve seen in southern California in 2007, and also to alleviate some of the economic and visual impacts created by pine beetle infestations encroaching from neighboring counties along the western border of Boulder County.”

Successful Integrated Treatment Court to gain additional support

The Commissioners approved a budget of $453,161 for the second year of the county’s new Integrated Treatment Court (ITC) program from the Offender Management Sales Tax Fund. Launched last year as a collaboration between the 20^th Judicial District, the Sheriff’s Office, Social Services, Mental Health and Public Health, the Integrated Treatment Court (ITC) aims to obtain better outcomes and reduce repeated offenses by defendants who suffer from severe drug or alcohol addiction.

The program has achieved impressive, measurable success in meeting its goals to reduce crime and jail bed use and to increase long-term sobriety, reunification of parents with their children, long-term financial stability, access to medical and dental care, and sober and safe housing. In just nine months, the juvenile and adult courts:

Reduced jail bed use by participants in the ITC by 88 percent in just nine months,
Saved an average of 42 jail beds per day, meaning the jail hasn’t come close to capacity since the program started, whereas it was often at or near capacity in 2006,
Retained 72 percent of those admitted to the program and succeeding on probation.

The Commissioners also funded an additional full-time employee to help the ITC continue in its successes.

“The treatment of addictions and the criminal behaviors associated with them has been a longstanding problem in our community,” remarked County Commissioner Cindy Domenico. “We are pleased that through collaboration and commitment, this team has been able to reduce the number of chronic offenders with ongoing substance abuse issues and to help find better ways to keep families intact and economically self sufficient.”

Sheriff’s Office to gain mountain patrol deputies, emergency warning system for hazard- prone foothills communities

The Boulder County Commissioners approved additional funding for the Sheriff’s Office to add two mountain patrol deputies in 2008. The mountain patrol area includes unincorporated areas of the county as well as the communities of Allenspark, Eldora, Magnolia and Jamestown and support for Ward and Nederland.

The two additional deputies will give the Sheriff’s Office a total of 8 dedicated mountain deputies allowing the Sheriff to deploy a minimum of 2 deputies to the mountain districts 7 days per week. The primary goal for the increase in staffing is to be able to increase law enforcement presence and visibility and to decrease response times to emergency calls in the mountain communities.

The Commissioners also approved funding for the purchase and installation of four outdoor emergency warning sirens to provide an early warning system for residents in the foothills communities of Lyons, Jamestown and Marshall. These areas are all vulnerable to high hazard flooding, and, in the case of Marshall, residents there are also vulnerable to tornadoes due to the large number of mobile homes.

Sustainability efforts will reduce waste and pollution, conserve energy and resources

In 2005, the Commissioners committed Boulder County to the pursuit of two primary sustainability goals: to be Zero Waste -“or darn near” - by 2025 and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with Kyoto Protocol targets. The County has already launched a number of programs aimed at reducing waste and pollution and conserving energy and resources, both for county operations and within the greater public community.

Additional funding in 2008 will continue support for successful existing programs and add new internal and external efforts. Among expenditures, the County will contribute to the ClimateSmart initiative and fund low-cost energy-audits, high-efficiency lighting programs, Zero Waste efforts including composting and recycling at County offices and the County Fair, the purchase of hybrid fleet vehicles, and support for alternative transportation.

Also in 2008 the County will sponsor a countywide transit education and bus pass support (CTEPS) program that will assist employers and neighborhoods interested in purchasing Eco-passes. Boulder County has received federal transportation funds to provide this service provided the County contributes a local match of $50,000 per year to fund the program. The goal is to double the current annual transit ridership on ten existing transit routes extending through Boulder County.

For more information on these and other county-supported sustainability programs, visit www.co.boulder.co.us/sustain.

County support helps non-profits fill demand for services

Boulder County makes efficient use of taxpayer dollars by supporting local non-profits that provide important services and fulfill needs that might otherwise go unmet. Each year, Boulder County allocates money to local non-profits through the General Fund, Health and Human Services Fund, Developmental Disabilities Fund and Worthy Cause Fund.

The Commissioners have added six new non-profit agencies to receive funding in 2008, including Circle of Care and Carriage House. These dollars provide support for a breadth of services. Health and mental health, financial counseling, emergency food and housing, help for victims of domestic violence and educational opportunities for at-risk youth are just a few examples of the services funded. For a more in-depth list, visit www.co.boulder.co.us/bocc/taxes.

Open Space: An ongoing commitment to quality, care, acquisition

Boulder County’s commitment to Open Space includes acquisition of key parcels, but it also extends to providing quality care, maintenance, trails and programs for the parcels we already own. Money allocated for 2008 will go towards a number of strategic programs aimed at eradicating noxious weeds, restoring critical grasslands and riparian areas, preserving historic and cultural properties, maintaining a sustainable agricultural program in the county and acquiring additional open space properties. For more information about specific purchases, programs and projects, visit www.BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org.

Breakdown of allocations by fund

Each fund is run as its own budgetary entity. Individual funds are guided by the rules and goals that reflect that specific fund’s purpose and values. The 2008 Boulder County budget breaks down into the following funds:

General Fund ― $122,614,688

Road Fund ― $14,833,025

Social Services Fund ― $27,240,606

Recycling Capital Improvement Fund ― $233,400

Developmental Disabilities Fund ― $5,556,386

Grants Fund ― $12,000,000

Workforce Fund ― $5,000,000

Fire Training Centers Fund ― $0*

Health & Human Services Fund ― $3,802,071

Eldorado Springs LID ― $1,141,249

Retirement Fund ― $0**

Conservation Trust Fund ― $1,590,872

Offender Management CIT Fund ― $2,102,412

Worthy Cause Fund ― $3,467,760

Open Space CIF I ― $25,394,143

Open Space CIF II ― $11,699,038

Capital Expenditures Fund ― $6,912,861

Risk Management Fund ― $15,103,813

Fleet Services Fund ― $1,963,490

Recycling Center Fund ― $4,866,428

Total expenditure budget for 2008: $265,522,242

*The Fire Training Centers Fund was entirely expended in 2007.

**The Retirement Fund expenses were moved to the General Fund.

Commissioners certify mill levy

In a separate resolution, the Commissioners today also certified a mill levy of 22.467 mills. The County mill levy typically represents approximately 30 percent of a property owner’s average property tax bill within Boulder County. Other property taxing entities include school districts, cities, towns, and fire, water and special districts. The County’s maximum allowable mill levy (established by TABOR in 1992) is 23.745 mills; the 2008 mill levy represents a temporary mill levy credit of 1.278 mills.

-END-

Barbara Halpin
Boulder County Public Information Officer
BHALPIN@bouldercounty.org
303-441-1622

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