DOLA and CGFOA to Host Budget 101 Workshops

The Department of Local Affairs (DOLA ) and the Colorado Government Finance Officers Association (CGFOA) are hosting a training opportunity for beginning budgeteers. If you or someone you know needs some basic budget knowledge or just a basic tune-up, take a look. Upcoming workshop dates are:

•  Tuesday, July 26 - Alamosa
• Wednesday, July 27 - Durango
• Thursday, July 28 - Rifle
• Tuesday, August 2 - Westminster

We will also be offering a Budget 101 webinar on Aug 4th for those who are unable to attend at one of the above dates or locations.

About the Program:

• Whether you’ve never budgeted, gone through one cycle, or just want a little better understanding and knowledge of “where to go from here?”
• Whether you’re with a County, City, Town or Special District.
• Whether you’re a Budget Officer, an employee, a newly Elected Official or a volunteer.
• We can relate to you!
• We’ll review Colorado Local Government Budget law, Basic Calendar, Legal Limits on the Budget, and you’ll hear from experienced Budget Officers who have been through the ringer (many times!) and learned “hands on” how it really works.

Registration starts at 9 a.m. and class begins promptly at 9:30 a.m. and will run until approximately 3 p.m. A box lunch will be provided. CPE credits can be earned and a certificate will be issued to those who sign the CPE attendance sheet.

The cost is $20 for CGFOA members and $30 for nonmembers.

Scholarship funds available for this class -- go to http://www.cgfoa.org/scholarship.htm.  For questions or more information, contact Jarrod Biggs , (303) 866-4493.

Reminder to local governments: time to submit budgets to DLG

Now that both the budget deadlines and holidays have passed, it is time for local governments to submit their adopted budgets to DLG.

There are resources on budgeting on our website at www.dola.colorado.gov/budgets.  There, you will find a checklist of the statutory requirements of budgeting to ensure that DLG receives all of the necessary documents and data.

Once all of your documents are compiled (either in paper, or hopefully, as PDF documents) there are two ways to get them to us. Our preferred option is by using our electronic filing method where you submit the PDF document of your budget (we have successfully received PDF documents upward of 800 pages) with the district name and Local Government Identification Number (LGID) included both in the name of the document itself, and in the email subject line.  The other option would be to mail a paper copy, however, in the interest of saving costs, time and preserving resources, we encourage using our electronic filing method.

There is a full list of instructions on our e‑filing page at www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing You are able to see our guidelines on naming your document, using PDF documents, and look up your LGID number on our budgeting website ‑ www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing.

Note: Please send only one government per email [e.g. XYZ Metropolitan District No.1 ‑ 6 need to send an individual email for each individual district ‑ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.], if there is a parent government that includes the budget of another local government [e.g. City of Biggsville includes the budget of the Biggsville Urban Renewal Authority or Local Improvement District, or other...] please note in the email that the budget of the other government/s is included (and include that local government's LGID as well).

Of course if you need of additional help, please contact Jarrod Biggs at 303.866.4493, jarrod.biggs@state.co.us or Cynthia Thayer at 303.866.5601, cynthia.thayer@state.co.us.
Contact information is also on the budgeting page.

Budget 101 Trainings Offered Throughout the State and Online

DLG staff members Jarrod Biggs and David Keyser will be working in conjunction with the Colorado Government Finance Officer's Association (CGFOA ) to provide a Budget 101 course in a number of locations throughout the state (and via the web!).

The workshops are designed primarily for any first, second, or third year local government budgeters, but are open to all. The workshops will cover the basic statutory budget requirements, deadlines, certification of mill levies, revenue limitations and more. A CGFOA member also will be on hand to discuss their experiences in the context of budgeting. The workshops also will feature a presentation from the State Demography Office on state economic and demographic trends and their impact on budgeting.

Workshops are being held in Montrose, Frisco, Greeley, and Colorado Springs.

DOLA will be providing a Basic Statutory Requirements and Demography workshop via webinar on August 24 and 26 at 10 a.m. If you would like to take part in the webinar please contact Jarrod Biggs of DOLA’s Division of Local Government at jarrod.biggs@state.co.us, or (303) 866-4493.