Larimer County Budget: The Foundation of County Operation

By Kristin Stephens

For most of the year, the Board of Larimer County Commissioners, our budget team, and the county’s executive leaders prepare the county’s budget. We are statutorily required to adopt a balanced budget every year, and the process starts again for the next year after the previous year’s budget is adopted. 

We strive to provide crucial services for our community while keeping our residents’ pocketbooks in mind as well. For example, in January 2024, the county gave $5.5 million back to residents in the form of a temporary mill levy credit, the largest in county history. The Board of Larimer County Commissioners also worked with our state legislators to reach a compromise that would give relief to property taxpayers who saw higher-than-normal tax increases because of increased property valuations. The county now has a cap of 5.25% revenue growth each year. 

While our budget has grown each year, this does not mean the size of the county government has increased. Since our community is growing, and our costs are rising, the budget has expanded to maintain our existing services, particularly in public safety. For example, the cost of providing medical care for jail inmates has tripled in recent years, adding millions of dollars to maintain a single county program. We have also absorbed the cost of implementing a new state law requiring body-worn cameras, which included additional staff and technology costs to review and store a vast amount of digital evidence.

Since 2022, about 80% of budget increases funded by property taxes have gone to public safety programs, including complying with state mandates and shoring up Larimer County’s disaster contingency reserves. We added $9.5 million in 2024 to this reserve but immediately had to withdraw $1.8 million to cover costs related to the Alexander Mountain Fire. The county remains committed to funding safety, corrections, and disaster response. Still, despite rising demands, we are limiting the growth of the county workforce to less than a 1% increase in full-time employees. 

The few services we have added to our budget over the last few years are in direct response to what we’ve heard from our residents. They have asked us to address housing affordability and climate change, and we have done so with limited staff and by first using federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. 

Our residents have also asked us to address safety and congestion on our roads and provide more transit and multi-modal transportation options. Larimer County has experienced increased traffic on many of its once-rural roadways and transportation systems. These roadways are now vital transportation routes for our community to travel to work, shopping and recreation. In response, the commissioners referred a .15% sales tax to the ballot and if approved, this dedicated revenue would be in place for 15 years. 

Transportation funding has not kept up with the needs of our growing county, and only a small amount of property tax revenue pays for roads and bridges. On a $600,000 home, only $9 of the property tax payment goes for county transportation purposes. 

We hope this clears up some misconceptions about our budget. We’re committed to a transparent budgeting process, which is why we have held public meetings across the county to answer questions and take input. If you need more information about our budget visit https://www.larimer.gov/performance-budget-and-strategy/Budget/2025-Budget or contact us at 970-498-7010.

Kristin Stephens is a Larimer County commissioner representing all of Larimer County.