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OCN > 2308 > El Paso Board of County Commissioners, June 27, July 11 and 18 – Board receives Monument annexation impact report

El Paso Board of County Commissioners, June 27, July 11 and 18 – Board receives Monument annexation impact report

By Marlene Brown and Helen Walklett

At the July 11 El Paso Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting, the commissioners received an annexation impact report from the Town of Monument concerning land south of County Line Road.

Monument Ridge East and West annexation

An annexation impact report from the Town of Monument was received by the commissioners at their July 11 meeting. The BOCC cannot approve or deny an annexation report; it serves to notify it of the annexation request and sets out potential impacts in general terms. The Monument Ridge East and West annexation concerns 160 acres of land south of and abutting County Line Road between Beacon Lite Road on the west and Misty Acres Boulevard on the east.

Accepting the report, the commissioners directed staff to comment that the BOCC expects the Town of Monument to annex Beacon Lite Road once the planned improvements to it are completed.

The annexation was scheduled to be heard by the Monument Town Council in July. See the Monument Town Council article on page < 1 >.

Support for Monument pumpkin patch business

Local resident Bill Denim spoke in the public comment period of the June 27 meeting in support the Colorado Pumpkin Patch, a Monument business. He said it was his understanding that the business is being threatened by a complaint about the traffic it generates. It’s located on a working farm off Highway 105 and operates for about six weeks every year.

Denim said the business has tremendous value and it brings in a lot of money for the county, provides families with a fun fall activity, and operates a nonprofit allowing families with special needs children to enjoy the pumpkin patch for free. He urged the commissioners to support it.

New property assessments

At the July 18 meeting, Mark Flutcher, county assessor, spoke about new property assessments. There have been 33,724 appeals in El Paso County, which is about 12 percent of total real property assessments that went out to the property owners. About 16,467 assessments were adjusted, for a total of about $1.9 billion reduced. About 6.7 percent of the total bills were reduced, which Flutcher stated “is in line with past years’ average.”

Flutcher said his office has been working with the state and is in line with the statutes that were put in place this year, and it does not have the authority to cap reassessments. Flutcher had gone to the state capitol to support a bill to cap assessment increases at 10 percent, but that bill was shot down in committee. Preliminary audit results could not be shared until the State Equalization Board approved the audit.

All the commissioners except Vice Chair Carrie Geitner attended National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference & Expo in Austin, Texas on July 21-24. The conference is the largest meeting of county elected and appointed officials in the country. NACo helps to shape federal policy and share proven practices and learn about the latest trends in county government roles.

The meeting was adjourned after 25 minutes.

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The next BOCC meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 8. View agendas and meetings at www.agendasuite.org/iip/elpaso. Meetings are held at Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave, Suite 150, Colorado Springs.

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me. Helen Walklett can be reached at helenwalklett@ocn.me.

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