Published on December 12, 2018
During Wednesday’s meeting, the Weld County Board of Commissioners approved the 2019 budget for operations and capital outlay totaling a gross amount of $315,256,967. The Board also extended the 20+ year practice of charging below the TABOR limit (which is 22.038 mills) for property taxes by agreeing to keep the mill levy at 15.038 mills.
The county is in excellent financial condition with no debt, no sales tax, one of the lowest mill levies among all Colorado counties, a significant cash reserve, and a fully funded pension plan. The major factors impacting the 2019 budget continue to be dominated by the oil and gas development in Weld County, population growth, state and federal budget issues, and service restructuring in Weld County government. As has been the case for the last few years, growth and development activity directly, or indirectly, related to oil and gas exploration seems to be the main economic driver in the majority of positive economic activities in Weld County. The local and regional economy remain one of the strongest in the state. Unemployment rate for Weld County has stayed below or near 3.0% for the last year. Highlights from the 2019 budget include: