Craig Daily Press / Fire ban lifted

August 29, 2007

• Signed a resolution to advance funds from the general fund to the road and bridge fund.

• Signed uncollectible taxes form.

• Opened bids for Public Safety Center tile and carpet work.

• Approved personnel requisitions for a legal technician for Social Services and a grounds and facility maintenance technician for the Parks and Recreation department.

• Waived bid process for engineering on cold storage and sand/salt buildings for the Road and Bridge department.

Moffat County — The Moffat County Board of Commissioners lifted a countywide fire ban on Tuesday after Undersheriff Charlene Abdella made a presentation recommending the ban be lifted.

Recent rains and lower temperatures are behind the decision, Abdella said, which comes a week after bans were lifted on Bureau of Land Management, Dinosaur National Monument and the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge property, as well as U.S. Forest Service acreage in Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco counties.

Plans to keep the ban in place until the Labor Day weekend were scrapped partially because the majority of fires in the county this year have been caused by lightning and not human activity, Abdella said.

In other action, county assessor Suzanne Brinks presented the commissioners with numbers that will possibly affect county residents if voters approve proposed mill levy tax increases for a new hospital and Moffat County School District improvements.

With the school district asking for an increase of 5 mills, and with the potential for The Memorial Hospital to ask for the maximum allowable 3 mills, the total increase would be 8 mills.

That translates to an increase in taxes of $64 on a $100,000 home, and an increase of $232 on a commercial business valued at $100,000.

Brinks said the average homeowner in Craig with a $150,000 valued home would face an increase of $96 in taxes if both mill levies were to pass.

Some relief for taxpayers might be felt at the county level because 2007 was a reappraisal year and all county property saw an increase in value.

Moffat County also saw increased income from oil and gas exploration and pipelines built across the county, and those incomes could lower the county mill levy next year.