Proposed ‘23 budget up 58%
Several funds are swollen by state and federal dollars for needed improvements throughout the county
Logan County’s Board of Commissioners is expected to adopt a $51.5 million budget for 2023 at its next regular meeting.
The commissioners held a public hearing Nov. 15 during their regular session, but there was little input from the public.
The largest slice of the budget pie for next year will be Road and Bridge Fund. Normally weighing in around $5 million, the 2023 fund will swell to slightly more than $16 million. Most of the increase is outside funds to rebuild the Red Lion Road bridge across the South Platte. The bridge was damaged in the 2015 flood and a temporary detour over culverts has been in place since.
The county also plans an aggressive road paving project, repaving some 20 miles of county roads in 2023.
The county’s general fund of $14.5 million takes up roughly another third of the budget, followed by Human Services, weighing in at $7.8 million.
Lodging Tax Fund will nearly double to more than $300,000, but again much of that is state and federal dollars that will be used to supercharge the county’s tourism advertising budget in 2023.
The county’s Capital Expenditures Fund expenditures will nearly double, yet again because of an influx of state and federal dollars. Much of the $1.8 million will be spent upgrading HVAC in county-owned facilities as part of an aggressive energy efficiency program.
The Sales and Use Tax Capital Improvement Fund, which is a continuation of the one-half percent sales tax originally passed
to build the Justice Center, will grow by 76 percent in a one-time bonus as carryover funds from the Justice Center construction fund are folded into that fund.
The overall budget figures are nearly 60 percent larger than 2022 projected expenditures, largely because of federal and state dollars coming in for specific projects. The rest of the funds show either modest increases or small decreases.
The proposed budget can be viewed at the Logan County Courthouse. Once it is adopted, it will be available online at https://logancounty.colorado.gov/sites/https://logancounty.colorado.gov/sites/logancounty/files as a PDF