Contained within this Budget Message, you will find listed the important features in the Adopted Budget for Larimer County for fiscal year 1999. This Adopted Budget was prepared under the direction of the Board of County Commissioners and the County Manager utilizing guidelines specified by the Board.

The Adopted 1999 County Government Budget is $ 174,654,561, representing less than a 1% increase in the budget for regular County Services.

Most of the increase over the final estimated 1998 budget can be attributed to the voter approved temporary facilities and open space sales and use tax programs.

Included in the County Government budget, there is budgeted $ 1,959,000 for General Improvement Districts, Pest District and other Non-County entities which will be presented separately from County Government.

Overall Emphasis of the 1999 Adopted Budget - The Adopted budget for 1999 was prepared with the following policy direction:

1. The 1999 Adopted Budget must address strategic initiatives identified by the recently adopted Larimer County Strategic Plan:

The 1999 Adopted Budget for Larimer County is summarized below by service category. Major changes in spending levels for the category are explained at the end of each category.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following major expenditure levels by service category:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect major facilities projects and minor construction and land use purchases approved by Larimer County voters in late 1997, Budgetary revisions include costs for:

• Purchase of additional land at the Detention Center site
• Addition of $17,525,322 in facility construction costs, primarily for the expansion of the Detention center
• Additions of $5,069,766 in debt service and $6,491,429 in Courthouse and Jail Expansion Sales and Use Tax administration

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes several new remodel projects in addition to increases in the on-going maintenance budget.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditure for Public Safety functions:

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• The Sheriffs budget includes $3,403,000 to continue the additional staffing and operating cost that was approved by voters as part of the Jail Expansion Sales and Use tax.
• The Building Inspection Department will be spending an additional $12,000 for computer software upgrades; $60,000 for a satellite office in Loveland.
• Addition of a Legal Secretary/Acctg Tech position for $29,333 and a temporary Law Clerk for $5,443 to the District Attorney Office.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditures for support services:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• Moving one employee from Accounting and Reporting to Financial Services Administration.
• Addition of a new Employee Assistance Program for $23,000 and conducting a $134,000 study concerning the risks of becoming self-insured for employee medical benefits.
• An additional $65,000 for the Treasurers Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance project, bringing the total to $265,000.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditures for Public Works functions:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

• The Engineering budget received an addition of a pavement management system and a technical position was replaced with an engineering position.
• The Road and Bridge budget reflects re-appropriating $366,000 in unspent carryover funds from 1997. The Road and Bridge budget was also revised to use $384,000 of 1998 end fund balance to cover higher than anticipated material and services bids.

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

1. 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

• Increased Parks Capital Improvement Program - $75,000.
• Open Lands Program purchases and other expenditures - $1.5 million.

1. The Adopted 1999 budget reflects:

• Eight temporary positions in the Parks Program converted to regular positions for a total additional cost of $43,000.
• Two new positions (Open Lands Technician II and Conservation Planner) will be added to the Parks Program. These positions are required as a result of growth in the program and to develop management plans for lands acquired and awaiting public access.
• One position at the Fairgrounds will be increased from 3/4 to full time.
• $1.2 million in capital improvements projects at the managed reservoirs including a Park Visitor Center at Carter Lake and major renovation of the South Bay area at Horsetooth Reservoir.
• A 15% in Fairgrounds facility rental fees.
• A $1.00 per day increase in the daily Park Permit fee

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditures for General Government functions:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

• Addition of a $177,671 relational database project to the Assessor’s budget. A minor revision and reduction in the capital replacement plan for the Assessor.
• Carryforward of $152,667 from unspent 1997 funding for a Document Imaging Project in the Clerk’s Office.
• $110,000 revision to the Election Year budget to accurately reflect the expected costs of the 1998 elections.

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• Increased budget for capital replacement in the Clerk’s and Assessor’s budgets
• $270,000 for a new Voter Registration System project
• $40,000 for a new employee facilitator-training program out of the County Manager’s office and approved in 1998.
• One-time increase of $50,000 in the Assessor's budget for increased re-appraisal costs that will be incurred in 1999. This item will be removed in the year 2000.
• Continued support of the FoxTrot bus service at $26,250

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditures for Health and Human Services functions:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

• Addition of a Horticulture Agent position, and a Life Skills Trainer Position, The training position is funded by the Employment and Training department to provide training in money management and parenting skills to welfare clients
• The addition of a $37,000 Nutrition Education grant to Cooperative
• A $25,000 subsidy to the Fox Trot bus service
• Significant increases in grant allocations to Employment and Training, Human Development, Mental Health and Social Services.
• Conducting a privatization analysis of the Senior Chuckwagon and Mental Health programs.
• Transition of Social Services State Merit system employees to become County employees as part of Welfare reform.
• Addition of a Juvenile Assessment Center program
• Set-aside of $300,000 for an imaging pilot project in Human Services.
• Re-Evaluation of the Maternity program in the Health and Environment department to determine long-term financing options. The program may be dropped if finances are not sufficient

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• Additional increases in grant allocations in Employment and Training Services
• Additional grant-funded staffing in the HHS Directors Office.
• Full funding of the Youth Transport program at $105,000 by the County, however, other entities will be contacted to share in the costs.
• Additional $10,000 to finance the implementation of the Rifgt to Farm ordinance.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditures for Special Purpose functions, including Local General Improvement Districts (LGCID) and Special Assessment Districts (SAD), districts funded by a tax imposed by the citizens of a particular area to fund special needs in their neighborhood:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect :

• Revisions to Neighborhood Improvement Districts
• Establishment of a West Vine Stormwater Project for $100,000

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• Continuation of the West Vine Stormwater Project for $735,000

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditure levels for Solid Waste Management functions:

1. The 1998 budget was revised to reflect:

• Delayed purchase of $300,000 compactor and $200,000 reconstruction project of the landfill entrance until 1999.
• Installation of a $40,000 gas collection system required by state and federal air regulations

1. The Adopted 1999 Budget includes:

• Re-budget and reconstruction of entrance, but at $500,000
• Termination of the Last Resort Program and subsidy to Pollution Prevention Program. The pulled funds will be directed to the creation of education center at the landfill.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditure levels for Planning and Zoning

function:

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes adjustments to the compensation plan. The amount of pay adjustment is based on the results of a salary study of other similar jobs in similar northern Colorado public and private employers.

The County will be setting its compensation levels based primarily on comparisons to the Longmont Salary Survey. This survey compares both public and private employers pay rates for companies similar in size and makeup.

Pay adjustments will average 5% and be applied to employees wages based on the employees job classification. Those job classifications that require greater adjustments to maintain comparability will receive the greater adjustment. Some employees will receive no adjustment. The objective is to maintain wages at the 50^th percentile of the Longmont County for all County positions.

Appointed positions are budgeted at a 6% increase for 1999.

The 1999 Adopted Budget for Larimer County includes estimates of a variety of taxes, fees, grants, and intergovernmental revenues.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following revenue estimates by source:

The proportion of the budget supported by various revenues can be demonstrated by the following graph:

• Net Assessed Value for all property in Larimer County is $1,971,183,920 this is a 3.75% change over the previous year.
• Total Actual Value of all property in Larimer County will be $13,157,174,285 this is a 4.37% change from the previous year.
• Actual Value of all New Construction will total $336,044,730 this is a 37.3% decrease from the previous year.
• Actual Value of Deletions to Real Property will total $1,378,101 this is a 14.1% increase from the previous year.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following property tax levels for County Government:

• Property Tax revenue will continue to provide a significant part of the County Government gross budget supplying $41,587,748 in property tax revenues to support county services.
• Larimer County will continue the current operating mill levy of 21.571 mills. (This amount excludes any abatement mill levy authorized to regain lost revenue due to abatements and refunds.)
• Larimer County will also levy 0.078 mills (authorized by state law) to recover revenue lost from abatements and refunds of property taxes in 1998.
• Larimer County must declare a temporary property tax credit to all property owners of approximately 1.65%. This will enable County Government to meet the requirements of the TABOR tax revenue limitation.
• The 1999 Adopted Budget will comply with the restrictions of the TaxPayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment passed in 1992. This limitation caps the percentage of increase in property taxes to no more than the sum of Consumer Price Index + "Growth".

The distribution of Property Tax revenue to support the County Adopted 1999 Budget is as follows:

The estimated mill levies by fund for the County 1999 Adopted Budget are:

Other taxes (Sales and Use Taxes and Vehicle Registration Taxes) will increase by 18.3% from the Revised 1998 budget due to the temporary increase in revenue caused by the addition of the voter approved one-year 0.1% Fairgrounds Sales and Use Tax.

Federal, State and Intergovernmental revenue will increase by 4.1% from the Revised 1998 budget (and supply one-quarter of the 1999 Adopted Budget).

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes an estimated increase of 1.2% from the Revised 1998 budget. Included is a $1.00 per day increase in daily Park fee for the Parks and Open Lands Department. Colorado Law sets most other fees of County Government, therefore the change in fee revenue many times indicates changes in volume rather than rates.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes a decrease of 69.3% from the Revised 1998 budget for this category. This change is primarily due to the fact that 1998 Revised budget included $71,483,388 in bond proceeds that will be used to build the various Justice Center, Jail Expansion and other facilities approved by the voters. The Adopted 1999 Budget also includes an estimated increase of 11.8% from the Revised 1998 budget for Internal Transfers.

The Adopted 1999 Budget will require the use of approximately $22,000,000 of fund balance (bond proceeds received in 1998) to continue the construction of voter approved facilities.

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following expenditure proposals for Non-County Special Purpose Functions:

The Adopted 1999 Budget includes the following property tax proposals for Non-County Special Purpose Functions:

Larimer County Weed District must declare a temporary property tax credit to all property owners within the district of approximately 12.4%. This