On Dec. 2 and 9, 2025, the Pagosa Fire Protection District Board of Directors approved a resolution approving the district’s 2026 budget, appropriating funds and certifying the district’s mill levy.
The board originally took action on the resolution — Resolution 2025-05 — at its Dec. 2, 2025, regular meeting.
“These are the updated numbers,” PFPD Chief Robert Bertram explained at the board’s Dec. 9, 2025, special meeting. “Once we went through and did all the final calculations, it was far enough off that ... we needed to come back and redo the resolution.”
That, he explained, was to help make sure everything is correct.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t have all those other numbers until the next day and I thought we’d be close enough, but we weren’t,” he added.
The board then approved an amended version of the resolution.
The original resolution includes total appropriations of $5,940,839, compared to $5,944,958 in the amended resolution, with that difference being in the district’s general operating fund.
At the board’s Dec. 2, 2025, meeting, Bertram indicated the budget had been updated from its October draft version to reflect the assessment values going down a bit, which also lessened the amount budgeted for treasurer fees and pension.
He noted that the district would no longer have money going into reserves and that $280,000 will be taken from reserves for the purchase of water tenders — part of $1.2 million the district anticipates spending on apparatus in 2026.
He further added during the budget discussion that it also includes a 5 percent cost-of-living increase.
The amended budget resolution shows anticipated expenditures of $5,544,458 in the district’s general operating fund and $400,500 in the Volunteer Firefighter Pension Fund for total expenditures of $5,944,958.
For the general fund, property tax revenues are estimated to total $4,724,817 and sources other than the general property tax are estimated to total $579,316, for a total of $5,304,133 in revenue for the district’s general fund.
Estimated revenues for the pension fund are listed at $311,776.
The resolution appropriates $5,544,458 for the general operating fund and $400,500 for the pension fund for a total of $5,944,958.
The resolution also certifies the mill levy at 8.846 mills for general operating expenses, which it notes includes 0.032 mills for refunds and abatements, “upon each dollar of the total assessed valuation of all taxable property within the Fire District for tax year 2025 for collection of tax revenue in 2026.
The resolution also notes the 2025 valuation for assessment for the mill levy, as certified by the Archuleta County assessor, is $536,059,620.
Editor’s note: For transparency, Randi Pierce is related to Terri House, who serves on the PFPD board.
randi@pagosasun.com
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