BOCC hears first draft of 2027 county budget

On Oct. 13, the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners held a special session with the Gunnison County Finance Department to review the first draft of Gunnison County’s 2027 budget.

Assistant County Manager for Operations and Sustainability John Cattles started off the meeting with an emphasis that the budget is a document intended to reflect the Board’s strategic priorities and department business plans, not just a collection of numbers. The draft is preliminary, and the staff will refine it as assessed values, grants, rates, and project details become more certain.

“The first question when we develop a strategic business plan is who is your customer, and the second question is how are we serving our customer,” said Cattles. “This is how we're going to serve the public. This is how we're going to accomplish the service goals we have for our customers at each department.”

The draft assumes a 4.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for personnel costs and a provisional 10% increase in health insurance, but just before putting the draft together they received the final premium increase of 2% and will include that in the next draft. Staff is budgeting revenue conservatively and generally excluding grants that have not been secured. The next draft will include applicable grant updates. A $750,000 grant revenue expectation will be added. The board requested a work session to discuss public health, health and human services, and related questions including juvenile services and changes to benefits and federal funding. A $2 million grant for Gunnison Valley Health has been announced, but staff left it out of the current draft until the IGA is secured. It is expected to appear in a later revision, along with program budgets.

Fund balance is the net difference between a fund’s assets and liabilities and doesn’t necessarily mean cash available to spend. It can include capital assets such as buildings and equipment. The new budget presentation separates those assets from spendable unrestricted cash, while recognizing that even spendable funds may be restricted or committed to specific uses. The fund’s unspendable balance largely reflects its loan to the housing authority, primarily the $4.05 million loan to Sawtooth, which becomes spendable as it is repaid. Public Health showed a projected negative balance in the draft, but expected grant revenue was not yet included.

The board and staff reviewed the housing authority’s budget in light of its first full year of activity. The projected $4.8 million negative balance is largely tied to the $4.05 million loan to Sawtooth, and Whetstone debt service is now tracked in a separate proprietary fund. The draft includes a $300,000 local marketing district (LMD) allocation for housing, which staff said helps meet debt-service coverage requirements during Whetstone’s transition year when leasing is limited and construction is still underway.

For the  Whetstone housing development near Crested Butte, the board wants to understand the financial shift from construction financing and bond draws to operations supported by rent revenue. Commissioners emphasized keeping rent affordable while meeting debt obligations. Financial staff is working with Servitas to develop a budget testing for a rent target of 25% of household income, but the operating budget is still pending.

The draft budget includes substantial grant-funded road and bridge work, especially the Brush Creek Roundabout. Commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels noted roughly $8.9 million in capital outlay, primarily for Brush Creek, and asked how the grant revenue and expenses fit together with the County’s more limited road-maintenance funding. Commissioner Puckett Daniels also asked about the apparent $4 million difference between intergovernmental revenue and expenses, and suggested a work session to provide clearer sources-and-uses breakdowns. The draft did not assume a potential sales-tax measure would pass. Remaining grant funds could support eligible expenses in future years.

Cattles noted that work is beginning on the Cement Creek Roundabout, including planning, engineering, and land acquisition. The Board requested a separate session on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which covers both the upcoming annual budget and the longer-term plan. The requested CIP discussion will explain how projects are scored and prioritized, how they align with the Board’s policy priorities, and how their funding is structured.

The board examined how property-tax revenue projections in the draft are preliminary because final assessed values and mill-levy calculations were not yet available; the Finance Department will refine them for the next draft. Commissioners Puckett Daniels and Liz Smith asked for a clearer explanation of how the 5.25% Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) growth cap, including its treatment of new construction, affects Gunnison County’s budget and how that differs from special districts. They wanted a stronger understanding of the local effects of statewide revenue limits and funding responsibilities to inform future legislative advocacy, with a separate discussion anticipated around January.

There was discussion on how to allocate LMD funds among housing, early-childhood support, and other priorities. Though the draft includes $300,000 for housing, there is no additional placeholder for early childhood yet. Commissioners supported first determining what fund was available before designing a program. A planned survey is aimed at providers and their needs and economic impact, distinct from the Early Childhood Council’s existing surveys about employees and workforce retention.

Other budget discussions covered utilities, technology, fleet, and several smaller funds. The draft includes some sewer and water rate assumptions, but staff said the analysis is still being refined. A landfill-rate study is underway, but no changes are proposed in this budget while the study is pending. The technology budget is expected to grow to build reserves, support the county’s AI policy, and strengthen cybersecurity. Staff described the Fleet Fund as stable, with vehicle-loan costs billed back to the departments using the vehicles. They also explained that the Risk Management Fund primarily tracks claims and holds premiums, while sage-grouse and cheatgrass figures need further refinement once a new agreement is finalized. The board also supported inviting the Late Night Taxi to submit a formal funding request, but made no funding commitment.

The meeting ended with staff summarizing plans to prepare work sessions on road and bridge, public health and health and human services, housing authority and Whetstone, the capital improvement plan, and LMD allocations. The Financial Department will provide more precise mill-levy and assessed-value information, update the health-organization assumption, and incorporate eligible grant information into the next draft.

The BOCC accepted the draft and set the budget public hearing for Dec. 8, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in the Board of County Commissioners meeting room. The statutory deadline for budget adoption was noted for Dec. 15.