El Paso County commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday a $471 million spending plan for 2023 that prioritizes roads and parks funding and will provide the largest boost to employee salaries in recent years.

The county will spend nearly $18 million on roads and almost $16.5 million next year to bump up employee salaries and benefits. These are the two largest portions of about $257 million in discretionary funds county commissioners can distribute to core services and departments. The rest of the budget is tied up by state and federal regulation.

Proposed $473M El Paso County budget boosts employee salaries, roads funding in 2023

Another $1.4 million is budgeted for parks maintenance, wildfire mitigation and to help build a new nature center in northern El Paso County.

Commissioners said the adopted 2023 budget adequately reflects the county’s ongoing commitment to upgrading aging roadways, funding parks and “taking care” of its employees.

“This is a true reflection of exactly where we’d like to be and that’s where our citizens also would like to see us using our funds,” Commissioner Cami Bremer said Tuesday.

The county will spend almost $16.5 million next year to bump up employee salaries and benefits to keep up with rising wages in a competitive labor market and to better retain workers, finance officials said during budget discussions this fall.

It’s the largest pay increase officials have considered in more than five years, driven by inflation and the rising cost of living, Chief Financial Officer Nikki Simmons previously said. 

El Paso County proposes largest employee salary boost ‘in recent history’ for 2023

All of the county’s nearly 3,000 employees across 24 departments will see a boost in their salaries, she has said.

The increase includes a 5% cost of living raise and a 2% bump to county department and office personnel budgets to address employee tenure, equity or pay compression, which happens when a new employee is paid almost the same or more than longer-service employees in the same or higher-level roles, El Paso County’s Chief Human Resources Officer Xavier Frost told commissioners during budget discussions.

El Paso County’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, is 8.2% for 2022, county officials previously said. The decision to increase employee salaries was also informed by a comprehensive salary study the county conducted, they said.

The county lost 27 full-time employees in 2022 and plans to add 12 more, for a total of 3,007 full-time employees next year, Simmons said Tuesday.

No county jobs were eliminated, Simmons said. Officials reduced positions across four departments and used money dedicated for those salaries to invest in current employees, focusing on retention rather than saving money for chronically vacant positions.

The approved 2023 budget will also put about $18 million toward local road upgrades. This includes a one-time allocation of $16 million, which the county increased from $10 million during budget discussions, to fund road projects. It also includes another $1.9 million for gravel road maintenance. 

“It is something that we’ve been working very hard at catching up on … but we’ve made an enormous amount of progress in the last five or six years regarding roads and bridges, including a lot of re-capitalization of our vehicle fleet that deals with road and bridge repair and snow plowing,” Board Chairman Stan VanderWerf said.

Northern nature center in El Paso County envisioned as a ‘hub’ for community, tourism

Additionally, the spending plan allocates $1 million to help build a third nature center, this time in northern El Paso County; $160,000 for parks maintenance; and $250,000 for wildfire mitigation, according to a Tuesday budget presentation.

El Paso County will also hold 18.5% of its general fund in reserve to face a possible economic downturn since the country could likely see a recession next year. The adopted budget adds $4.23 million more to the reserve fund, for an ending balance of $9.23 million in reserves, Simmons said.

Other highlights include:

? A $30.7 million Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, refund from 2021 overages is being refunded to residents through property taxes payable in 2023.

? $1 million to improve county facilities.

? $215,674 to clean up homeless camps.

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