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Commissioners discuss placing early‑childhood, mental‑health and road‑bridge questions on November ballot; staff to refine legal language
Summary
County staff previewed possible ballot questions to (1) lift the TABOR/5.25% cap for existing early‑childhood and mental‑health mill levies and (2) reprogram and potentially increase the road & bridge mill levy. Commissioners asked staff to refine statutory language and return with draft questions for the Sept. 3 deadline.
San Miguel County staff discussed potential ballot questions Aug. 20 that the board could send to the clerk for the November election. Two principal measures drew substantive discussion:
1) Early childhood and behavioral‑health mill levies: Staff presented draft language that would ask voters to waive the 5.25% property tax limit (C.R.S. §29‑1‑117(1)(b)/(o‑4) references) for two existing county mill levies — a 0.75‑mill early‑childhood fund and a 0.75‑mill mental‑health services fund — so the funds could collect the full revenue generated by the levies as county valuation grows. Kathleen Merritt (Bright Futures / Early Childhood Advisory Panel) told the board she expects her panel to endorse placing the combined question on the ballot and that program administrators will consult before a final commitment.
2) Road & Bridge mills (reprogram and possible increase): Staff presented two options for the road and bridge fund. Option A would allow the county to collect the county’s historically authorized 1.9 mills for road maintenance in full (by waiving the 5.25% limit) and to formally reprogram 1.4 mills previously funded from the general fund back into Road & Bridge. Option B would do that and also ask voters to authorize an additional 0.2 mills (a net increase) for improved maintenance and select paving projects. Commissioners discussed whether to present two separate ballot questions or a single combined question and sought clearer, statutory‑compliant language; staff warned that state and TABOR drafting requirements produce dense legal verbiage.
Staff said they are drafting language now because the county faces a tight timeline: the county must finalize ballot questions for the clerk by Sept. 5. Commissioners asked staff to circulate memo copies and to provide the draft questions for review before the board must approve them on Sept. 3. Jared (county staff) told the board he had prepared draft statutory language but wanted commissioners to see it in writing before weighing in: “When we get to the mill Road and Bridge melody, and I'd like to handle that last, it gets very complicated very quickly, and the language is far from ideal.”
Why it matters: The measures would directly affect county revenue available for early childhood programming, mental‑health services and road maintenance. Passage would let those funds capture valuation growth and, in the case of the road‑and‑bridge ballot item, potentially add a modest, targeted mill‑levy increase for infrastructure needs.
Next steps: Staff will finalize draft ballot language and distribute it to commissioners for review. The board will revisit the measures at its Sept. 3 meeting and must submit final ballot questions to the county clerk by Sept. 5 if it wishes them on the November ballot.
