July 18, 2022 |
The Carbon County Commissioners will meet this morning to finalize the budget to run government operations for the next year. As required by state law, the meeting will be held on the third Monday of July.
Headed into today’s public hearing, the reported budget summary includes a projected revenue estimate of $26.3 million over the next year, including cash on hand, balanced against projected revenues of $32.7 million. The tax levy requirement to cover the difference between revenues and expenses is $6.3 million.
Like last year, calculating the total assessed value was made complicated by Senate File 60, which allows mineral producers to pay ad valorem taxes monthly instead of once or twice a year. The new formula requires the assessor to adjust the valuation downward. For instance, last year the assessor presented a final value of $607.5 million, which was adjusted to $588.5 for the 2022 budget, which just ended.
Clerk Gwynn Bartlett told Bigfoot 99 that similar adjustment was made for the FY 2023 budget.
Pictured above: The Board of Carbon County Commissioners at their new desk in their new room on the second floor of the Carbon Building. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
The $183 million difference between last year’s state assessed mineral value—$607 million versus $790 million this year—offers a glimpse of how commodity prices for oil and gas have jumped over the last year in the energy starved marketplace.
This year’s county valuation after the adjustment is $58.5 million less than in 2021. Last year, Clerk Bartlett reported to commissioners that the final assessed value $588.5 after the adjustments were made.
This year’s final projected adjusted value is less: $530 million.
Bartlett said the new formula for calculating state assessed mineral value after Senate File 60 requires removing six months of the valuation while including all of the property taxes associated with mineral production.
Last year, the 12-mill levy raised a little more than $7 million in taxes. This year, the levy is projected to raise $6.3 million.
The budget hearing is open to the public and is schedule to start at 9 a.m. in the Carbon Building-Courthouse Annex.
