County's proposed 2027 budget spends $17.7 million from general fund
The document Montezuma County posted Tuesday budgets more general fund spending than this year, less in current property tax revenue, and a $2 million draw on the fund's balance.
Montezuma County has published its proposed 2027 budget, and the document shows the county planning to spend more out of its general fund next year while budgeting for less current property tax revenue.
Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: Montezuma County 2027 Proposed Budget
The county posted the all-funds document to its website on Tuesday. Its own agenda for the commissioners’ regular meeting that morning lists a “2027 proposed budget presentation” by Robert Dobry among the items needing individual consideration. The county has not yet posted minutes for Tuesday’s meeting, and the budget document carries no notice of a hearing date.
The general fund
The proposed budget puts general fund expenditures and transfers at $17,715,673 for 2027. That compares with $16,694,540 budgeted for 2026 and $15,531,139 actually spent in 2025.
On the revenue side, current property taxes are budgeted at $6,926,525 for 2027, down from the $7,411,636 budgeted for 2026. The county collected $6,793,087 in current taxes in 2025. Payments in lieu of taxes are budgeted much higher, at $552,807 against $200,000 budgeted this year, and the federal mineral lease payment is held flat at $1,300,000.
Counting the fund’s beginning balance of $21,047,994, the budget shows total general fund resources of $36,159,226 and an ending balance of $18,443,553 — about $2 million below the $20,490,462 the county had budgeted to end 2026 with.
The other funds
The Road and Bridge Fund is budgeted to spend $5,802,590 in 2027, down from $6,137,257 this year, against total resources of $8,012,293. Its ending balance is projected at $2,209,703, well above the $618,578 budgeted for the end of 2026.
Public health spending rises to $2,330,800 from $2,033,043. The capital fund is budgeted at $1,923,446, up from $1,611,924, with its ending balance falling to $3,769,093 from the $5,015,044 budgeted for the end of this year.
The document is a line-item spreadsheet covering every county fund, from the general fund and Road and Bridge through public health, capital, the conservation trust and lodgers tax funds, the landfill and social services. It carries no written budget message or summary.
Colorado counties adopt their budgets in December. The commissioners’ meeting video for Tuesday is posted on the county’s website, which also carries the agenda.
Source: Montezuma County 2027 Proposed Budget, posted on montezumacounty.gov, and the county’s own meeting agenda for October 13, 2026.