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OCN > 2412 > Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Nov. 14 – 2025 budget proposed; 2024 budget amended

Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Nov. 14 – 2025 budget proposed; 2024 budget amended

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its only meeting in November, the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees held a workshop and a public hearing on its proposed 2025 budget. The board also held a public hearing on amendments to its 2024 budget. That hearing was followed by a vote on a resolution to amend the 2024 budget to account for increased property taxes, to change the distribution of grant funds, and to correct expenses and revenues that were miscoded in the town’s 2022 budget.

The board passed three ordinances that affirmed leases that were originally granted via resolution. The board passed three resolutions authorizing studies needed to evaluate the impact of the proposed Buc-ee’s travel center. Finally, the board heard an administrative report from Town Administrator Dawn Collins.

The meeting ended with an executive session.

2025 budget raises compensation and increases staffing

Collins opened the workshop on the 2025 budget by telling the board that, in response to a previous compensation study, appropriate wages for town staff were a priority for the town. Both the police and fire departments were low, she said. An early draft of the 2025 budget tried to put all staff at wages recommended by the compensation study, but that was too large a step to take in a single budget, Collins said, adding the budget before the board brought wages halfway to the recommended amount. She said she wanted to move the town from reacting to planning for the future.

At the workshop, Collins reviewed proposed projects for 2025, broken down by department. Administrative projects include:

  • Rewriting the town’s land use code.
  • Improving the audiovisual equipment in the Town Hall to allow those watching the live stream of board meetings to be able to see presentations.
  • Upgrading the town’s web page to allow online reservations of town amenities and other improvements to the Town Hall.

Public works projects include:

  • Adding sidewalks along Highway 105.
  • Widening South Spruce Mountain Road.
  • Improving Circle Road.
  • Addressing drainage on Aurelia Avenue, High Street, and Rosita Avenue.

Parks and trails projects include:

  • Bridge construction at Elephant Rock.
  • Construction of a multi-use sports field at the south end of the Palmer Lake Regional Recreation Area.

Water projects include:

  • Park Street, Shady Lane and other water line replacements and upgrades.
  • An Arapahoe well.
  • Participation in the Loop water re-use project.

Police and fire projects include:

  • Construction of a Public Safety Facility, for which the town has obtained a matching grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.
  • Replacement of a police vehicle.
  • Acquisition of a fire engine.

Collins pointed out that the town had received $70,000 in additional property taxes in 2024, and she expected property taxes in 2025 to be similar. The 2025 budget anticipates $2.076 million in revenue from sales, use, and excise taxes. That number includes taxes from recreational cannabis sales, Collins said, but those taxes can’t be broken out for privacy reasons since there only two recreational cannabis businesses in the town.

Collins said donations are unpredictable and can’t be budgeted, but the 2025 budget does include a $12,000 pickleball sponsorship.

The 2025 budget anticipates total revenue of just over $10 million, according to Collins.

In terms of staffing, Collins said the 2025 budget includes funds for two additional full-time police officers and two-part time Police Department employees, one of whom would be a records technician. Two additional full-time positions in the Fire Department are included in the budget, Collins said.

Collins pointed out that the budget required $469,000 of reserve spending from the fund balances. She said she wanted a policy governing how much of the fund balance reserves can be spent in a budget.

The Water Fund has its own budget, and Collins pointed out that it includes four full-time employees. Collins said she thought only three employees would be needed.

There were no comments from the public following Collins’ remarks. The board made few comments about the 2025 budget during the regular board meeting. In response to a discussion about how the town should handle stray dogs, Trustee Shana Ball said she opposed adding funds to the budget that purpose. The workshop was concluded.

During its regular board meeting, the board held a public hearing on the 2025 budget. Mayor Glant Havenar said she was concerned about spending reserve dollars from the fund balance. Trustee Dennis Stern said spending $500,000 from a $4.5 million fund balance was not overreach.

Fire Chief John Vincent discussed his plans to improve the town’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating, which measures how well the Fire Department serves the community. Improving the ISO rating lowers residents’ insurance costs, he said. Resident Kellie Currie asked to have the cost of mapping the town’s functioning and non-functioning fire hydrants added to the town’s budget.

Havenar closed the hearing on the 2025 budget. The board will vote to approve the budget at its Dec. 12 board meeting.

2024 budget amended

The Nov. 14 board meeting included a public hearing on proposed changes to the town’s 2024 budget.

Collins told the board that the amended budget made changes to both the General Fund and the Water Fund.

In terms of the General Fund, two property tax relief bills passed by the state Legislature—SB22-238 and SB23-B001—reduced the revenue collected through property taxes. To compensate for the lost revenue, the bills required the state to reimburse some local governments. Collins said Palmer Lake received $70,000 of reimbursed property taxes, requiring the 2024 budget revenue line items for property taxes to be increased. She said grant funds for the Palmer Lake Elementary School (PLES) project were distributed differently in the amended budget.

The amended budget also transferred funds between the General Fund and the Water Fund to correct miscoding of grant funds that had occurred in the 2022 budget, specifically $25,300 from a grant to address drainage on High Street and $15,000 in Preliminary Engineering Report expenses.

In the Water Fund budget, Collins said the revenue line item for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) revenue was decreased from $117,390 to $103,669 to reflect actual ARPA revenue recognized for 2024. The revenue line item for the PLES Upper Glenway Water Improvement was increased from $101,520 to $287,697 to reflect the portion of that project that was water-related. The Water Fund Capital Outlay for PLES increased from $141,900 to $522,326. Under debt service, the principal and interest line items relating to a 2018 emergency water loan to construct a second water storage tank were corrected.

Following Collins’s remarks, the hearing was closed and the board voted on Resolution 56-2024. The resolution amends the appropriated funds for the General Fund from $4.976 million to $4.984 million and amends the appropriated funds for the Water Fund from $1.952 million to $2.349 million. Trustees Ball, Kevin Dreher, Nick Ehrhardt, Samantha Padgett, and Dennis Stern voted in favor, as did Havenar. Trustee Jessica Farr voted no.

Three leases reaffirmed

Town Attorney Scott Krob told the board that a citizen brought to the town’s attention that multi-year leases must be approved by ordinance. Town staff found three multi-year leases that were passed by resolution, not by ordinance, he said. Krob said the board could pass ordinances to affirm the leases if the town wanted to keep the terms of the leases unchanged. He said he would not charge the town for the legal work needed to draft the ordinances.

To correct this situation, the board passed three ordinances:

  • Ordinance 15-2024, which affirms the lease with CORE Electric Cooperative for the land where electric-vehicle chargers are installed.
  • Ordinance 16-2024, which affirms the lease with Pikes Peak Library District for the land used by the library.
  • Ordinance 17-2024, which affirms the lease with Eco Spa LLC for the land at the town’s Elephant Rock property where Richard and Lindsay Willans are building a spa.

Three studies to evaluate impact of proposed Buc-ee’s travel center

Krob told the board that, as part of the proposed annexation of land adjacent to I-25 and County Line Road, three studies would be undertaken to evaluate the impact of the Buc-ee’s travel center project. Resolution 53-2024 authorizes a professional service agreement with Economic & Planning Systems to conduct an independent fiscal impact analysis of the travel center. Resolution 54-2024 authorizes an agreement with Stolfus & Associates to conduct a traffic impact analysis. Resolution 55-2024 authorizes an agreement with GMS Engineering Inc. to assess the impact of the travel center on the town’s water system. In response to a question from Stern, Krob said he recommended that the water rights belonging to the land Buc-ee’s wants to acquire be transferred to the town if the annexation is approved.

Krob said Buc-ee’s would pay for all three studies.

Administrative report

Collins told the board that an offer had been made and accepted to fill the position of police chief and she expected the new chief would begin in December. She noted that Deputy Clerk Grace MacNeil was resigning her position. The flooding in the basement of the Police Station was due to a failure of the water heater, she said, and an insurance claim had been submitted. She ended her remarks by thanking Police Lt. Adam Lundy and Police Sgt. Gene Ramirez for stepping up until a police chief could be hired. She also thanked Public Works Supervisor Stacy Delozier for his work on roads and on planning. Ball and Cindy Powell were congratulated on their work obtaining grants. Collins ended her report by thanking all the town’s department supervisors and staff for their teamwork.

Executive session

The Nov. 14 board meeting was followed by an executive session to determine positions regarding the terms of purchase or sale of town property and the possible disposition of town real property. No actions were taken following the executive session.

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The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 12. The Dec. 26 meeting has been canceled to accommodate the Christmas holiday. Meetings are held at the Town Hall. See the town’s website at www.townofpalmerlake.com to confirm times and dates of board meetings and workshops. Meetings are typically held on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at the Town Hall. Information: 719-481-2953.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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Correction

The Palmer Lake Board of Trustees article in the November issue of OCN incorrectly said the proposed Buc-ee’s travel center would be east of I-25. It is proposed to be west of I-25 and south of County Line Road. OCN regrets the error.

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