The 2025 budget for Estes Park Health operations is set for adoption at Wednesday’s board meeting even though the EPH board of directors could be sidestepping several state requirements in doing so. Wednesday’s EPH meeting has been moved to 4:30 p.m. in the town board room at Town Hall.
Colorado Revised Statutes 29-1-108 requires that governing bodies conduct a hearing to consider the adoption of the proposed budget, at which time objections of the electors of the local government shall be considered.
No public hearing has been scheduled, nor does the draft agenda for tomorrow’s meeting allude to public comment on the one-page draft budget released Oct. 16.
Of the revised, near $67 million proposed budget discussed during a Tuesday morning finance subcommittee meeting, about $63 million represents operating expenses that are offset by operating and non-operating income.
Some additional changes are expected to be made in the budget that will be adopted during the board meeting on Wednesday, but the current draft can be found at 2309_001.pdf and is labeled “Agenda 2 – Estes Park Health Board of Directors’ Executive Session Tuesday, December 10, 2024 8:00am – 9:30am.”
Originally the meeting had been posted as an open meeting of the finance subcommittee meeting to be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., not an executive session. The open meeting opened at 9:30 a.m. and adjourned at approximately 10:10 a.m.
The agenda items for Wednesday’s meeting allot a total of 29 minutes to discuss the 2025 budget: seven minutes from Board Treasurer Steve Alper who is scheduled to discuss the process and challenges of formulating the budget, 20 minutes from CFO Aysha Douglas who will provide the budget update and two minutes for adopting the budget, appropriating funds and determining the mill levy yield.
No time has been set aside for public comment specifically on the budget and public comment on items not on the agenda has been allotted three minutes at the beginning of the meeting.
A printed Oct. 16 advertisement said the budget was to have been reviewed during the Nov. 13 regular meeting of the board, but no budget review was scheduled as an agenda item, nor did a review occur at that time.
In addition, the advertisement noted that final adoption of the budget was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 at Town Hall, but recipients of the EPH newsletter received a message mid-afternoon Monday that the meeting suddenly had been moved to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Official posting of the time change on the EPH website did not occur until late Monday afternoon.
According to the printed advertisement, written objections can be filed anytime prior to the final adoption of the budget, although there were no instructions as to where to send objections.
The draft budget released in October shows operating expenses of salaries, benefits, fees, supplies, utilities, leases, insurance, repairs and depreciation.
Missing are state law requirements to also include all expenses for administration, debt service, and capital projects to be undertaken during the budget year.
Other specific notations items missing from the October draft budget are estimated beginning and ending fund balances, actual figures for the prior fiscal year and estimated figures projected through the end of the current fiscal year, including disclosure of all beginning and ending fund balances.
Thank You to Estes Valley Voice for making note of the required, but inadequate, budget documentation by EPH and the Board. If the heralded software program that the Board members bragged about in the meeting on 12/11 is so wonderful why did it not generate all the documents that are required by state law?
I am inclined to believe that the “cookbook” financial program probably IS INDEED a very good program, and it likely could generate all state required reports… SO, why are they hidden from the public? Transparency is essential to trust.