Weld Receives First-Ever "Taxpayer Friendliest Community" Award

Published on August 07, 2017

Last week, Weld County received an honor never before given to a county government agency. The first-ever award for being the Taxpayer Friendliest Community was given to Weld County commissioners by Jon Russell, National Director of the American City County Exchange (ACCE).

“We started doing research on counties across the country that were doing things right; that were cutting taxes, eliminating debt, eliminating regulations and bringing out more government transparency,” said Russell. “I’m proud to give our first ever award for the taxpayer-friendliest community in the country to Weld County, Colorado.”

ACCE began requesting documents from Weld County almost 12 months ago as part of the nation-wide research they were conducting on possible recipients for the award. The information included numbers regarding Weld County’s financial status, mill-levy rate, retirement plan status, and more.

“Thank you for this award,” said Commissioner Steve Moreno. “On behalf of the board, we really appreciate this.”

Some of the facts leading to Weld County receiving this award included:

• Weld County has saved taxpayers over $424,000,000 in property taxes not collected due to mill levy reductions from 2002 – 2017
• As of January 1, 2017, Weld County’s retirement plan is more than fully funded at 103%, with assets totaling more than $255 million
• Weld County has no county sales tax, no debt and pays for projects in cash
• Weld County has more than $100 million in a contingency fund, which was crucial following the 2013 flood and allowed the county to make needed infrastructure repairs quickly
  
  

“The commissioners have been diligent in our pursuit of reducing the tax burden to our constituents,” said Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer. “And we will remain strong in our commitment to pay cash as we build so future generations of Weld County taxpayers will not be saddled with any debt.”