The 2001 budget passed for Montezuma County this month is virtually unchanged from the past year’s, although minor adjustments were made for pay raises and the new jail.

The county’s total budget, which includes the general fund, road department and social services, among others such as the landfill and the new jail totals $19,234,741 — up slightly from the $18,970,000 spent for 2000.

The largest increase budgeted for the dawn of the new millennium is for the new $5.5 million detention center now under construction in Cortez. It is funded by a 0.45-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1999.

That entire jail amount was included in the budget last year, with $4.5 million of it allocated for the 2001 books, or minus the approximately $1 million amount already paid out for construction. Another $269,000 was appropriated for additional jail operations for 2001, which includes the budget for the rehabilitation center that will begin to move into the old jail facility.

The general fund — which pays for basic county operations such as the treasurer’s, assessor’s, county clerk’s and coroner’s offices, along with the commissioners’ salaries, the sheriff, district attorney and health departments — is budgeted for $6.2 million.

Next year $3.4 million will be spent on area roads and $3.8 million for social services. All county departments were allocated raises of 4.5 percent.

A significant change is the $222,000 budgeted for the sheriff’s department to start and begin operating its own records division separate from the city of Cortez. Sheriff Joey Chavez successfully argued that his department could in the long run save the county money by controlling its own records.

Revenues for roads, welfare services and the general fund are derived in large part from property taxes collected via mill levies that are based on assessed valuations. Assessed valuation for commercial and residential properties remained constant this year, leaving the mill levy at the same level, said County Administrator Tom Weaver.

Next year’s total mill levy will remain at 14.254 mills and will contribute an estimated $3.3 million to county coffers.

The remaining revenues come from charges for services and federal and state funds collected annually.

Under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), introduced by tax watchdog Douglas Bruce and passed by state voters in 1992, county mills are essentially frozen unless voters approve an increase, or vote to "de-Bruce" the limits set by the measure.

Under TABOR, if assessed valuations on property increase, then the mill levies must be lowered so that the difference, or surplus, goes back into the taxpayers’ pockets. De-Brucing allows the county to keep the extra funds collected from the mills levied at a higher property-assessment level. Prior to TABOR, governments could raise the mill-levy up to 5.5 percent every year.

Weaver said there has been a lot of pressure for the county to de-Bruce, but there has not been a reason to lately — assessed valuations have stayed relatively constant and the county has no major surpluses to keep.

However, he said, such a ballot question is a "real possibility in the future."