Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pitkin County outlines 2026 housing budget shift as Phillips infrastructure moves forward
Summary
Resiliency and Housing Director Ashley Pearl told commissioners that 2025 board‑directed housing funds were fully committed and most ARPA housing money is spent; 2026 programs will rely more on property tax and employee impact fee revenue while Phillips infrastructure is budgeted at $5 million.
Pitkin County’s Resiliency and Housing Director, Ashley Pearl, briefed commissioners on Jan. 27 on the county’s housing work and budget priorities for 2026, saying the county has largely exhausted one‑time board and ARPA funds and is shifting toward property tax and impact‑fee funding for next‑year programs.
“We have dedicated time, and we will be scheduling more of it with the board to discuss some of these items that require much larger strategic space,” Pearl said, summarizing why staff were presenting a high‑level review instead of detailed proposals. She told the board the $5,000,000 of board‑directed housing funding set aside in 2022 was fully committed by 2025 and that most ARPA housing dollars are now committed as well.
Why it matters: one‑time federal and board allocations supported a range of conversion and conservation programs in 2025, Pearl said, but those sources have little remaining capacity for new one‑off projects in 2026. That means community programs next year are likely to come from the housing mill levy (property tax) or the employee housing impact fee.
Key details
- Pearl said 2025 spending emphasized “conversion and conservation” of existing housing rather than new construction, and that the county combined multiple funding sources (board funds, ARPA, property‑tax dollars and discretionary funds) to make many projects possible.
- The 2026 draft budget shown to the board includes a $5,000,000 line for Phillips water infrastructure. Staff separated horizontal (infrastructure) costs from vertical (units) costs — Pearl said the board has budgeted two thirds of the anticipated horizontal construction cost into 2026 to allow for a quicker start if work moves forward sooner than expected.
- Commissioners pressed staff on per‑unit cost estimates. A commissioner asked, “Do we have a price per unit at this time for Phillips?” Pearl replied the county does not yet have a vertical unit price and is keeping horizontal (infrastructure) and vertical (housing units) planning and budgeting separate to reflect likely public‑private partnership structures.
- The budget includes nearly $900,000–$1,000,000 for an owner’s representative to provide daily on‑site construction oversight, materials testing, and coordination through complex tasks such as subdivision exemptions and relocations. County staff and a deputy town manager explained that specialized, day‑to‑day construction management and testing are difficult to staff internally without diverting employees from other county responsibilities.
- For county employees, Pearl said staff will continue internal programs informed by employee surveys and a staff task force; the employee housing impact fee historically funded about $1.5 million annually to buy market units to convert into rentals for employees, but Pearl said no new unit purchases are budgeted for 2026 because that fee is being reserved for Phillips.
Next steps
Pearl said staff will schedule dedicated strategic sessions with the board to dive deeper on Phillips and on long‑term property‑tax strategy. She also notified the board that a ‘Good Deeds’ grant agreement with the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition is budgeted for consideration at first reading the following day.
The board requested more detailed cost breakdowns for Phillips (including horizontal cost per unit) and additional briefings before staff advances stand‑alone funding requests.
