RBC | Rio Blanco County Commissioners held a brief special meeting on Friday, Dec. 20 to amend resolutions passed earlier this month to correct valuation for property taxes in 2024 to defray the cost of government for 2025. The amended valuations reflect changes from August to December, and are minor amounts.
Commissioners certified the levies and revenues for 2024 with approximately $42.7M levied in property taxes.
The board approved a contract amendment for the Co-Responder Consulting program that is tied to a grant, the term is extending and additional funds have been granted. Meets state requirements for law enforcement to have a co-responder available in certain cases to prevent escalation.
The board also discussed the renewal of the Dominion contract. County Administrator Vicky Edwards said Clerk and Recorder Shawn Luce had sent out an email that she needed to get permission to execute the contract. Edwards took it to the commissioners, receiving approval to go forward from commissioners Gates and Overton, but she did not receive confirmation from O’Hearon before telling Luce to proceed.
County Attorney Don Steerman said the contract agreed upon is “more of a maintenance contract,”and the county is obligated through 2025.
“The Dominion machines aren’t necessarily required, but a machine is required. There’s only two that are certified within the state of Colorado. One is the Dominion machine,” Steerman said. Changing to ClearVote machines would cost as much as $600,000, Steerman said, noting that number is his recollection.
The Clerk and Recorder, as the state-mandated election official, has the authority to execute the contract, but the Board of County Commissioners has the authority to appropriate or not appropriate the funding requested.