{"id":16074,"date":"2025-10-17T19:04:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-proposes-39-6m-budget-for-2026-amid-economic-pressure\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:53:30","slug":"city-proposes-39-6m-budget-for-2026-amid-economic-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-proposes-39-6m-budget-for-2026-amid-economic-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"City proposes $39.6M budget for 2026 amid economic pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cortez
Cortez will have an election June 8 to ask voters to opt out of state telecommunication law SB 152. (Journal file photo)<\/span>Journal file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

As rising costs strain households and governments, the city of Cortez is proposing a $39.6 million budget for 2026 and urging residents to review the draft online as part of a transparent approval process.<\/p>\n

Rising costs are outpacing revenue growth for municipalities, businesses and households, creating widespread financial uncertainty. The city of Cortez is no exception, said Finance Director Randy Bailey.<\/p>\n

He added that community collaboration and government transparency are necessities in the current economic climate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would consider 2026 a year that we\u2019re actually in a bit of decline,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cCosts for infrastructure, construction, materials, fuel, heavy equipment are astronomically higher in cost than they were a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city is experiencing economic constraints similar to those seen across Colorado and the U.S. The downturn \u2013 this year\u2019s \u201crelatively flat\u201d budget outlook \u2013 is attributed to several factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2025, we had budgeted $15.7 million in tax revenues. In 2026, we\u2019re currently budgeting $16 million. So, we\u2019re a $300,000 increase,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIt sounds like a lot, but in terms of the overall city of Cortez, it\u2019s relatively flat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bailey said federal grant programs have been reduced, limiting external funding sources. The city is also seeing declines in state revenue sources, like severance and mineral taxes, which further affect the budget.<\/p>\n

The federal shutdown has created a \u201crippling effect\u201d with reduced consumer spending, meaning people travel less or spend less money generally, affecting the city\u2019s sales tax revenue.<\/p>\n

Although the city hasn\u2019t cut services, Bailey said it is delaying asset replacements and deferring projects like park bathroom facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just trying to extract every bit of value out of every dollar that we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bailey said the city aims to make any service reduction or delay thoughtfully, consistently and with clear communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public has to be with us \u2026 because those are going to be hard decisions, and not everybody\u2019s going to be happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To view the budget draft and submit questions or comments, residents may visit ClearGov.com<\/a>. The budget\u2019s first reading will come during the City Council meeting Oct. 28; the second reading and public hearing, on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

Residents may attend meetings in person or view livestreams and recordings afterward. See the livestream at https:\/\/www.cortezco.gov\/497\/City-Council-Live-Stream<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 budget driven by development<\/div>\n

Cortez\u2019s proposed budget includes about $39.6 million in expenditures and $40 million in revenue. These totals cover all city accounts, including the general fund, special revenue funds for voter-approved uses, enterprise funds and internal service funds for shared costs like insurance.<\/p>\n

The budget is driven by City Council goals: urban renewal, housing, economic development, workforce development, infrastructure and asset replacement.<\/p>\n

The general fund is projected to spend about $14.4 million next year and generate about $14.9 million. The largest contributors of revenue are the city\u2019s sales and use taxes, with property tax playing a minimal role \u2013 roughly $136,000 projected for 2026.<\/p>\n

The general fund covers day-to-day expenses such as police, parks, planning and general maintenance, Bailey said. Of the $14.4 million in expenditures, about 36% is proposed for Public Safety, 26% for general government services, 16% for Parks and Recreation, 16% for Public Works and 7% for community development.<\/p>\n

The airport\u2019s revenue and expenditures for 2026 initially look high \u2013 $7.8 million in revenue and $7.7 million in expenditures \u2013 but Bailey said the figures are inflated by federal grant funding tied to large capital projects.<\/p>\n

Bailey said the core operating budget is much smaller, $500,000 to $750,000 annually. Airport projects include repaving the runway, installing perimeter fencing and security gates, upgrading navigation aids, improving TSA facilities, redoing the fuel station and adding a self-serve fuel stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have plans, within the next year or two, where we expect (the airport) to be self-funding \u2013 that is the long-term strategic plan,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finance Director Randy Bailey seeks public feedback in \u2018relatively flat\u2019 year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16074"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77171,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16074\/revisions\/77171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16074"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}