Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
El Paso County CFO says revenues exceed forecast by $4.3 million through June; sales-tax shortfall concentrated in general fund
Summary
Chief Financial Officer Nikki Simmons told commissioners the county is roughly $941,000 shy of its sales-tax budget through June but overall is $4.3 million above revenue forecasts thanks to higher investment returns and other compensating revenues; she described the county's conservative 'recession-resistant' budgeting approach.
Nikki Simmons, El Paso County chief financial officer, presented the county’s June 2025 budget performance report to the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 5, telling commissioners that, while sales-tax receipts lagged budget expectations through May by about $941,000, overall revenues for the year-to-date exceeded the county’s forecast by about $4.3 million.
Simmons said the county’s 1% sales-and-use tax budget is allocated across the general fund, road and bridge, capital improvement, human services and self-insurance funds. “We are shy of our budget through June of about $941,000 in sales tax,” she said, noting that the variance concentrates in the general fund because the other funds receive their budgeted allocations each month and any delta shows up in the general fund.
She cited compensating revenue sources including higher-than-expected investment interest (about $2.3 million above budget year-to-date) and stronger recording fees in the clerk and recorder’s office following a July 1 fee-change law. Simmons said year-to-date sales-tax growth over 2024 is positive but modest (under 1 percent) and described the county’s 2025 budget as intentionally conservative — a “recession-resistant” approach when the budget was prepared in 2024.
On other funds, Simmons reported that highway-user taxes to the Road and Bridge Fund had come in higher than the state estimate and that the county’s public-safety sales tax was at about 98.8 percent of budget. She noted American Rescue Plan Act balances: the county began the year with about $35.5 million in ARPA-eligible funds and had expended about $6.5 million, largely for water and wastewater grants to regional jurisdictions.
Simmons advised commissioners that the clerk and recorder’s office is monitoring changes to recording fees after a July 1 law moved to a flat fee schedule and that final state closeouts for human-services allocations will be available in August. She also said that some variances in self-insurance and workers’ compensation will adjust as pending settlements and expected stop-loss reimbursements are processed.
Commissioners responded with follow-up questions about which funds receive the sales-tax allocations and how variances are carried forward into budget planning. Several commissioners praised the finance team’s conservative budgeting approach and noted that, compared with reports from other jurisdictions, El Paso County appears to be in a relatively stronger fiscal position midyear.
Simmons said she will return with a June sales-tax report once June collections are posted and will provide further detail on industry-level sales trends.
