Working for the county pays off for Colorado retirees

Key Takeaways

Telluride’s growth as a ski and resort town has been a wild ride, but it can leave some older residents a little queasy. As San Miguel County, Colo.’s property assessments increased, so did property taxes, and homes that seemed sensible earlier in life can become a financial albatross in retirement.

For most of the last six years, residents over 60 or with disabilities have been eligible to work for the county in exchange for property tax forgiveness. At the same time, the program helps the county fill staffing holes that are challenging because of the area’s high cost of living.

“It’s really a win-win,” said Carmen Warfield, chief deputy clerk to the Board. “People look at their tax bills, wonder how they’ll pay them, but they know there’s a way to do that and give back to the community.”

Warfield canvases the county’s departments to assess their needs, and matches them with volunteers based on their interests. Their “wages” are paid directly to the county treasury.

“We’ve noticed a few advantages compared to hiring temps,” she said. “One gentleman did some document scanning a few years ago and he put a lot more care and attention into it than we expected. He wasn’t rushing through it.”

The program also benefits from volunteers’ professional skills. An attorney was able to pare down legal records by sorting out duplicates, and Art Goodtimes, a former commissioner who championed the program while in office, has worked in the county’s pollinator garden.

“I strongly feel that if you give this opportunity to people you can actually get people involved in government who are really talented,” he said. The garden, for instance, “provides a very simple kind of operation for people to go weed or do simple things that older people can do, and you don’t have to watch them so carefully.”

Goodtimes has not worked much lately, due in large part to Colorado’s long winters making it hard to garden during the tax period. Residents receive their property tax bills in December and payments are due in April, limiting the work-off period. The limited opportunities for outdoor work put the program into hibernation for a few years, because the COVID pandemic prompted the county to limit volunteers to outdoor roles to limit the spread of the virus.

That has depressed the program’s participation lately, but Warfield said the county will keep it going for however many residents are interested.

“If we’re able to help out just a few every year and make life a little easier for them, it’s worth it,” she said. “It’s nice to have people around the office like that. You get to know them and you talk to them and you ask about their family, and so you truly get a connection like you would with another coworker, depending on how long they’re with you.”

The property tax work-off program, and others like it in the state, including in Arapahoe and Pueblo counties, applies to a taxpayer’s primary residence.

Dorchester County, S.C. has also maintained a property tax work-off program, and after suspending it for a few years because of COVID-19, the 2023 program has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This year, 50 Dorchester County residents are participating.

Dorchester County, however, is home to more than 163,000 residents, compared to San Miguel County’s 8,000.