Mesa County’s 2027 Budget Challenges: Why Experience and Fiscal Responsibility Matter

Mesa County recently provided an important update on the development of its 2027 budget. The numbers make clear that the County—and potentially the next County Treasurer—could be entering a challenging budget year.

The County is currently working to close a projected $12.5 million gap between requested expenses and available revenue.

Since March, Mesa County has been using priority-based budgeting to evaluate programs based on legal requirements, community reach, cost, and value to taxpayers. That process has identified approximately $4 million in lower-priority programs, efficiencies, and other potential reductions.

That is meaningful progress, but it still leaves a substantial gap that must be addressed.

Difficult decisions are ahead

According to the County, personnel represents the largest portion of operating expenses. As part of the 2027 budget process, department leaders are reviewing vacancies, staffing levels, organizational structures, and opportunities to operate more efficiently.

Strategies currently being considered include eliminating vacant positions that are no longer necessary, reviewing positions vacant for six months or longer, selling County property that is no longer needed, consolidating certain financial functions, rebuilding the General Fund balance, and potentially forgoing employee raises in 2027.

The County has also announced that some financial positions are being consolidated into a countywide Finance team to provide greater staffing depth, shared expertise, backup coverage, and more consistent processes.

Those changes are particularly relevant to me as a candidate for Mesa County Treasurer.

What does this mean for the Treasurer’s Office?

The County Treasurer is an independently elected official with specific responsibilities established by Colorado law. Regardless of budget conditions, those responsibilities still have to be performed accurately, efficiently, and with excellent service to the public.

As the County evaluates staffing and consolidates certain financial functions, the next Treasurer will need to understand how those changes affect the operation of the Treasurer's Office and make sure the office has the people, processes, and resources necessary to fulfill its responsibilities.

That doesn't mean protecting positions simply for the sake of protecting positions.

Fiscal responsibility means determining what is essential, finding efficiencies wherever possible, and making sure taxpayer dollars are being used wisely.

It also means recognizing that sometimes the least expensive decision in the short term isn't necessarily the most efficient decision in the long term. Staffing, institutional knowledge, cross-training, customer service, technology, and operational efficiency all have to be considered together.

Experience matters in lean years

For the past 23 years as a small business owner, I have had to make these kinds of decisions in the real world.

I've managed employees, payroll, budgets, financial statements, changing revenues, staffing constraints, and periods when resources were tight. I've also spent more than 10 years serving on boards, where I've had to evaluate budgets, establish priorities, and make difficult decisions about how limited resources should be used.

Anyone can manage when resources are plentiful. Lean years are when management experience becomes especially important.

You have to distinguish between what you would like to do and what you must do. You have to find efficiencies without undermining the core mission of the organization. And you have to make difficult decisions while remembering that those decisions affect employees, taxpayers, and the people depending upon the services you provide.

Living within our means

Mesa County also expects to return approximately $5.4 million to taxpayers in 2026 under TABOR, and public polling conducted by the County showed continued support for maintaining the current TABOR obligation.

I believe the message from taxpayers is important: government must learn to live within its means.

That requires prioritization, discipline, innovation, and experienced leadership—not simply asking taxpayers for more money whenever budgets become difficult.

There is some encouraging news. Through June, County sales tax collections were approximately 0.7% above budget, use tax collections were 9% above budget, and combined sales and use tax revenue was 1.4% above budget. But as the County itself has acknowledged, those improvements don't solve the longer-term financial challenge.

Preparing for 2027

The 2027 budget is still being developed, and there are many decisions yet to be made. I will continue following the process closely, particularly as it relates to County financial operations and the Treasurer's Office.

If elected, I may take office at a time of significant financial and organizational change.

I believe my 23 years of business experience, more than a decade of board service, and fiscally conservative approach have prepared me well for that challenge.

My goal will be straightforward: protect the essential functions of the Treasurer's Office, take care of our taxpayers, find efficiencies wherever we can, and make every dollar entrusted to the office count.

That's the kind of leadership I intend to bring to the Mesa County Treasurer's Office.

Greg Haitz
Candidate for Mesa County Treasurer
GregForTreasurer.com

Paid for by Citizens for Greg Haitz. Registered Agent Marge Klein.

Read Mesa County's full 2027 budget update.