Arapahoe County is facing a significant budget shortfall starting in 2025 and commissioners recently kicked off a public engagement process to help residents better understand and provide input into the county’s financial challenges. Commissioners are asking residents to consider either reducing or eliminating many essential county services or to consider a couple of alternative funding sources to sustain these services. These proposed changes will have both immediate and long-term effects on communities of color, so it’s critical to know what’s at stake as we explore our options, and we invite you to provide your input on our interactive website: acbudget.com. First, it’s important to know that Arapahoe County has always balanced the budget. Elected officials and staff take great pride in knowing that we’ve been able to provide top quality service to our residents without going over budget. And we’ve been able to balance the budget while also providing property owners relief on their taxes by adjusting our mill levy (tax rate) down to stay compliant with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). By ARAPAHOE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Help us sustain essential services in Arapahoe County
Living within our means, however, has come at a cost. To keep the budget in check, we’ve had to defer more than $500 million in repairs to critical projects, such as roads and bridges, County facilities and other infrastructure projects. Plus, the County’s infrastructure plan is annually underfunded by $15 million, putting further strain on much-needed future projects. Further, funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) are set to expire this year, putting additional strain on our ability to provide the services our residents want and need. What’s at stake Without new revenue sources, we will need to make some hard decisions as we work to cut at least $35 million from the budget. This would affect all county departments and immediately impact essential services, such as public safety, roads and homelessness prevention and response programs. This would also leave more than $300 million of deferred maintenance and Detention Warehouse under slab failure, fire line. (Photo: Arapahoe County)
Brick wall failure. (Photo: Arapahoe County)
32 The Acumen
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