Noticias

San Miguel County has two ballot questions for November’s election — Questions 1A and 1B — which ask voters to approve two mill levy changes to existing funding channels.

Ballot Measure 1A would remove the state statutory revenue limit of 5.25% on the Early Childhood Advisory Panel (ECAP) and the Mental Health Advisory Panel (MHAP). Both of these funds currently bring in just under $1 million each year. Removal of the revenue limit would add an additional $259,000 to the collective funds.

The 5.25% limit was set by the state legislature in 2024. This measure would allow San Miguel County to take the full mill amount, bypassing the cap. The funds are currently used for mental health and substance abuse treatment services, and for reducing costs associated with early childhood education.

County Manager Mike Bordogna said the funds are urgently needed:

“Speaking with those two different boards, they’ve shared that they have immense challenges, and that even if they have millions more, they think that essentially, they would need millions more to address what the true needs are in San Miguel County,” Bordogna said.

“So understanding that, and understanding that we’re not going to be able to give them the millions more, but if we could allow them to capture what the voters originally authorized of 0.75 mills, that would generate approximately $130,000 additional that they could use for providing services to county residents.

“And so that’s what we’re asking the voters. Are they willing to essentially re-up their commitment to authorize these two respective funds to capture the full amount of the mill levy that they were originally authorized?”

The second ballot measure, Question 1B, would reallocate 1.4 mills from the county’s general fund into the Road and Bridge Fund, which currently receives 0.5 mills. Like Question 1A, it would allow the county to take the full 1.9 mills for road and bridge, increasing the fund by $328,000.

Bordogna said the change is not just about rural roads:

“I want voters, I think that’s an important thing for voters to realize, is that they’re not just voting for correcting or continuing to support road maintenance in the unincorporated county,” Bordogna said. “This is a direct benefit to those town residents and their roads maintenance as well.”

With that additional money for road and bridge, Bordogna said the county has a plan for continuing maintenance and repairs. In the past year, the county has fixed Tomboy Road, the Trout Lake Trestle, Silverpick Road and Fall Creek Road.

“We hear from our residents every single day about their frustrations with road maintenance, and the challenge has been largely that we have not had the funds to invest in these roads,” Bordogna said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do with the ballot measure.”

As to whether the ballot measures would increase taxes for county residents, Bordogna acknowledged they would — but only slightly. He estimates the increase at roughly $1.49 per $100,000 of home value. For a $1 million home, that’s about $15 a year.

“I do feel like it’s important for us to be transparent and say that, yes, it will generate more tax dollars,” Bordogna said. “So people, if they vote for this, their tax bill will be an extremely small amount higher than it would have been had they not authorized this.

“We’re talking the tax rate is not increasing, but the amount of taxes generated would increase.”

Bordogna also said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the county has seen a dramatic increase in maintenance costs due to more residents living in outlying areas and commuting on rural roads.

To find more information on voting in San Miguel County, visit sanmiguelcountyco.gov and click on the Elections section.