Summary/Analysis:

USA Today reported Gilpin County is the hardest hit county in the United States financially due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Gilpin County relies on approximately 50% of its revenue from the gaming industry. With the pandemic shutting down the casinos there was an approximate revenue loss of one (1) million dollars per month. This totaled about a four (4) million-dollar deficit to Gilpin County’s revenue for 2020.

The County Manager along with the Board of County Commissioners required the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office to cut $930,000 from their budget. This cut would have resulted in 12.5 employees being cut from the Sheriff’s Office staff. In late July, the Sheriff’s Office was awarded a grant of $392,982 which provides wages for seven positions for approximately one year. This grant is only a stop gap measure. At the end of 2021, this grant will expire, and the Sheriff’s Office will be faced again with potential cuts in personnel.

The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office annual budget is $9,084,834. The Sheriff’s Office is pro-active in searching and writing grants. These grants are completed by the staff at the Sheriff’s Office in addition to their regular duties. The Sheriff’s Office received approximately $2,312,852 in grants to offset the nine (9) million dollars of expenditures (about 25%).

The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office is not looking to increase it staffing levels but wants to maintain the current authorized strength in personnel.

The proposed mill levy increase of 2.27 Mills for the Sheriff’s Office. This would bring in about $998,800 to help fund the Sheriff’s Office. This money will be used to offset the budget cuts in personnel required by the County Manager and the Board of County Commissioners.

Argument for passing Mill Levy in Support of Sheriff’s Office:

1. The Mill Levy passes, this money would be used to maintain the current budgeted staffing levels.

2. The Mill Levy passes, this will keep the current levels of service provided by the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office.

a. Responding to calls for service;

b. 24/7 deputy coverage for the county; and,

c. Support for the other first responders in the county

If Mill Levy in Support of the Sheriff’s Office fails:

1. The required reduction in the Sheriff’s Office budget will result in loss of 12.5 deputies. The Sheriff’s Office is required to continue to provide 24/7 staffing in the jail, so this will leave less deputies to patrol the county.

2. These cuts will place the community at higher risk with less deputies to respond to calls.

3. This puts our first responder community at higher risk without support from the sheriff’s office. Our ambulance crews and firefighters potentially will not have support or there will be an extended delay of response from the Sheriff’s Office.

4. These cuts will result in longer response times to calls for service or no response at all depending on the nature of the call. These cuts could require a victim of a crime to come into the Sheriff’s Office to file a counter report. We will have to prioritize calls for service.

5. There will be less deputies patrolling the county, enforcing traffic violations (speeding motorcycles, exotic cars, etc.)

6. With less deputies patrolling the community engagement will suffer.

7. There will be gaps in the 24/7 operation when there would not be a deputy on the road to respond to calls for service.

8. The Sheriff’s Office would be severely limited or not assisting in supporting Human Services on calls and compliances.

9. The Sheriff’s Office will have to cut services that we currently provide.

Financial Impact – what is the money used for:

The approval of this mill levy will keep the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office operational with staffing at the current budgeted levels. These funds would be used for keeping personnel, at current levels. This mill levy is written with a three (3) year sunset provision.