Arapahoe County is considering going around TABOR to continue to fund its programs

BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER

The expansive Arapahoe County Fairgrounds at 25690 E. Quincy Avenue was the setting for the 2023 State of the County breakfast, sponsored by Xcel Energy, on June 7. “Where Good Things Grow” was the theme of the event that drew over 250 elected officials and leaders in economic development, business, and the non-profit sector, along with community members.

Carrie Warren-Gully, Chair of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), introduced the commissioners and Arapahoe County Coroner Kelly Lear, M.D., Clerk Joan Lopez, Sheriff Tyler Brown, Assessor P.K. Kaiser, and Treasurer Michael Westerberg, then focused on some of the board’s major accomplishments during the past year, lead by the formation, “on time and on budget,” of the new Arapahoe County Public Health Department that opened on January 3, 2023 “with 180 new employees providing critical services that our residents and businesses expect.”

She also pointed to the revision of oil and gas rules to incorporate new industry standards and measures of accountability, along with the expansion, currently underway, of the Detention Center (Arapahoe County Jail) to add 37 new beds for medical and behavioral observation, which will increase the level of care and safety for both inmates and staff.

The pervasive theme of the hour-long program was that virtually every new or expanded program undertaken by the County during the past two years related to people, businesses, and infrastructure has been funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars. According to the County’s website, as of August 23, 2022, Arapahoe County had already allocated $78 million in ARPA funds:

• $6 million to vulnerable populations

• $13 million to business support

• $23 million to housing and homelessness

• $6 million to mental health

• $13 million to county operations

• $11 million to education

• $ 3 million to water/sewer infrastructure

• $ 2 million to physical health

• $ 1 million to COVID-19 response

Many of the programs, the commissioners explained, have borne empirical, positive results, and it is important that they be continued.

BOCC Chair Pro Tem Jeff Baker, serving his second term, and the only Republican on the five-member BOCC, said, “ARPA funds are running out. We’re at a point where we need to make tough decisions on where and how to apply our limited budget. Current revenues will make it challenging to meet the needs of our community, projected to grow to almost 800,000 people by 2030. Essential services like public safety, human services, mental health programs, and road maintenance are at risk. We must stabilize our funding sources and modernize our finances.”

After explaining that the county’s general fund is “almost entirely reliant on property taxes for providing all services,” he pointed out that the County “receives about $430 from the average tax property bill to provide everything from repairing county roads to protecting the most vulnerable residents and providing public safety and motor vehicle services,” with no voter-approved

“TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) restrictions limit our ability to do what we need to do on a daily basis--much less address a growing backlog of infrastructure repairs (which are) historically underfunded by $15 million annually…The BOCC has used emergency, one-time federal funds to provide critical services over the past few years (which is) not sustainable… We will evaluate all our options, including the potential to ask voters to remove the revenue cap of TABOR, commonly known as ‘de-brucing.’ Of Colorado’s 64 counties, 51 of them have de-bruced, including our neighbors to the north and south in Adams and Douglas Counties.”

– Arapahoe County Commissioner Jeff Baker