County Budget and fiscal Responsibility

Here are links to the 2024 budget summary of all funds and the revenue chart and expenditure chart. The full county budget and associated information can be found here: County website - budget

The county budget is managed and divided into funds. Funds are segregated by revenue source.  You can see by the attached summary; we have many different funds. The general fund is mostly property taxes rounded figure $11,500,000, plus other grant revenue and State and Federal revenue that is tagged to specific mandated services. That adds to $18,900,000 rounded.

Under the general fund we take care of Assessor, Commissioner, Clerk, Coroner, Sheriff, Surveyor, Treasurer, Admin, Budget and finance, 911 communications/dispatch, District Attorney, IT, Colorado State University Extension, Facilities and maintenance, Emergency Management, Libraries, Public Health, Development Services incl Building, Planning, Environmental and Code Compliance, GIS/Mapping, South Park National Heritage (Fed funding), incl. Historic Preservation, Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center, Veterans Service Officer, Broadband. 

We then have other stand-alone Funds that receive restricted revenue that can only be used for a specific purpose. Please see page 5 of the full budget for an explanation of other funds we have: Human Services, County Grant, E-911 Authority (dispatch), Conservation Trust Fund, Land and Water Trust Fund, Debt Services, ARPA Grant, Bailey Library Fund, Sheriff Search and Rescue and Seizure, Road and Bridge (Public Works), Capital Projects, Retirement, 1041 Fee Account, Lodging Tax and Risk Management Fund.

Example: Public Works is mainly funded by the Colorado Highway User Tax Fund that is provided by the State only for road maintenance. We cannot spend general fund monies on roads, per Colorado Statute except the HUTF state allocation or any specific grants that we get. We also have a small property tax mill levy for Road and Bridge (public works) that you can see on your tax bill to help with administrative costs. If you look on page 55 of the budget you can see the revenue received for Pub Works, HUTF, permits, grants, leases, etc.

Expenditures are provided by each department and fund manager starting in August for the coming year’s budget. The expenditures are subtracted from the revenue in each fund. We land at our Estimated Fund balance at the end of the year. The summary of All Funds 2024 Budget clearly shows the math.

We maintain a reserve balance in all funds. Mainly because we must pay January, February and March county vouchers before property taxes are collected and processed.  Also, just in case there is an unexpected emergency like a major blizzard, and we need extensive plowing on the roads (R&B Overtime and equipment), or other unexpected needs. Each fund must survive on its own, so we need to plan accordingly. Park County and all Colorado Counties cannot deficit spend. At the end of 2024 we will have an estimated $3.9 million balance in the General Fund, $2.8 million in Pub Works, $7.9 million in Land and Water Trust fund, mainly because projects have been approved but not all the work has been completed and expended to the project. The fund balances add up to $12.8 million that WE CANNOT SPEND!!!

Lastly, we have two Internal Service Funds, Fleet Services and Self-Insurance Fund. We Allocate these to the specific departments based on employee use of vehicles for county function or health care. We maintain a healthy reserve in these funds to make sure we can cover unexpected needs.