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Commissioners say SRS/PIL payout will follow statute; county to use discretionary portion for roads this year
Summary
County staff and local school leaders discussed the recently received SRS/PIL payment; commissioners noted 25% is statutorily allocated to schools, 25% to Road and Bridge, and the board signaled it will put its discretionary share toward road maintenance amid rising chip-seal costs.
County staff told the board the 2025 SRS/PIL payment has been received and reminded commissioners that statute requires 25% of the total allocation be distributed to school districts and 25% to Road and Bridge. Staff said the school-share calculation must be done on a per-pupil basis, not split equally among districts.
Local superintendents and district representatives urged investments in CTE programming and student safety supports if discretionary county funds are made available to schools. "We would work closely together... that would be one area I think our group could elaborate on," said Audrey Hazelton, the new superintendent in Mancos.
Commissioners discussed county priorities and the impact of rising fuel and oil costs on road work. The board signaled that, for this year, it would allocate the county's discretionary portion back to Road and Bridge to maintain chip-seal and bus-route priorities given higher-than-budgeted bid results.
Next steps: staff will implement the statutory per-pupil distribution for the school share and place the discretionary allocation for road maintenance in the county budget this fiscal year. No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the workshop; the allocation was discussed and endorsed by consensus.
