Briefs Gunnison County

Linkage fee exemption approved
On September 2, the Gunnison County Planning Commission approved a revision to the Land Use Resolution requiring that homeowners must be residents to qualify for an exemption to workforce housing linkage fees.
According to Housing Authority director KT Gazunis, several items can be used to demonstrate residency for linkage fee exemption if the homeowner makes less than 120 percent of the adjusted median income: place of employment address, utilities and bills, diver’s license, car registration, federal and state tax returns, a family member’s main residency, a local financial institution used by the resident, and voter registration cards.
“We’re not trying to determine primary residence but residency,” explained Gazunis on Tuesday. “Usually if they’re filing taxes using a Gunnison County address, that’s the first indication—if they’re paying taxes here they probably consider themselves residents. It’s very rare we have to go beyond that.”
An example, she said, of someone who might require further documentation would be an independent consultant who lives in Gunnison County but works throughout the country.

Hospital board vacancy filled
The Board of County Commissioners appointed a new member to the Gunnison Valley Health board of trustees on Tuesday, September 6. Kathy Ridgeway of Ridgeway Accounting and Consulting Services in Gunnison was appointed to fill a seat vacated by the recent resignation of former chair Bob Hall.

Library resolution ready for the ballot
The commissioners approved a resolution in support of two 2011 ballot initiatives for the Gunnison County Library District: one to fund the construction of a new library facility in Gunnison and a children’s annexation in Crested Butte, and one to provide additional funding needed to operate the facilities by establishing a dedicated mill levy.
If approved, the mill levy would provide funding on top of the county-provided funding. The ballot language also asks voters to approve the mill levy without a 5.5 percent cap on annual revenue increases.
At a previous work session in August, county manager Matthew Birnie suggested that limiting the level of growth can be a good thing; some taxing districts have gotten into tight spots by raising the mill levy to its maximum during times of high revenue and have had no way to respond to revenue decreases.
But according to Gunnison County library director Larry Meredith, the measure would give the district greater flexibility in how they collect funds.
“Instead of looking at it as a revenue-raising measure, what we’re trying to do is save taxpayers money,” he responded. “We don’t want to have to levy 2 or 3 mills in the first couple of years because we don’t need it.”
When the commissioners passed the resolution in support of the ballot initiatives on September 6, Meredith confirmed that the library district would ask for only 1 mill during the first year and 1.5 mills the second. During the first year, that’s $13.35 per $100,000 of assessed property value. That’s down from the original estimate of $25 per $100,000.