Welcome back to Gilpin County

It was a tremendous relief to see the casinos in Black Hawk and Central City reopen after being closed for three months. And it was great to see it happen in a safe and responsible manner. Even though we didn’t allow black jack, poker and roulette just yet, and had our casinos turn off every other slot machine, the casinos attracted a steady stream of customers back to our towns.

Despite this long-awaited and well-managed reopening, we have a long road ahead of us. Gilpin County had the greatest percentage of its economy shut down among all counties in the entire nation, according to The Wall Street Journal. The necessary shutdown devastated our economy. As a result, our county budget will need to be slashed 20% to 25% over the next few months as we struggle with doing not “more with less,” but doing “less with less.”

The first step in the right direction was opening our casino doors, with safety precautions in place, to see if people would come back. They did. That provides me with hope for the future.

Ron Engels, Central City

Editor’s note: Engels is a Gilpin County commissioner.