Official Legal Publication serving Lincoln County and the Towns of Arriba, Genoa, Hugo, Karval and Limon
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LINCOLN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

LINCOLN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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We are now in the budgeting time of year, and our local government contributions to our organization from the municipalities and county are on a per capita basis. 

That means every year we need to update the most current population numbers and calculate the contributions from there. Interestingly, I was surprised to see an overall decline in all towns and the county in general in 2023-2024.

It was a slight decline, with the total county count moving from 5,738 to 5,450. Limon's headcount moved from 2,053 to 1,991, Hugo moved from 794 to 771, Arriba moved from 209 to 200 and Genoa moved from 160 to 152. Hmmmm.

Naturally, we are always tempted to ask why?

If you add up the municipal count drop of 102, that makes the unincorporated portions of the county, including the Limon Correctional Facility, drop equal 186. I have not had a chance to follow up to see if the inmate count went down, or if this is coming from other portions of the county. 

One theory on the overall change may be explained by a push out to rural areas during COVID-19 in late 2020 and all of 2021, and then stabilization in 2022 and finally some return to the city in 2023 and 2024 with the removal of pandemic pressures. 

We also can look at it through the lens of the economy, where the state in general is strong, but a dwindling workforce locally has seen some businesses close or have drastically reduced hours. 

With lower hours, naturally there may be less resident support with jobs in the most recent trends. It indeed goes to show that population count is highly stable, and gets added to and subtracted from year-to-year. 

In fact, I was quite disappointed in the 2020 Census, the county just barely moved a few percentage points upward. Factoring in over a 200-inmate drop during the pandemic, it actually made a bit more sense. 

In some respects, I feel we work so hard to increase the economy, encourage and support housing increases, promote events and the quality of living here, and STILL, the population number remains stubbornly stagnant. 

It does indicate a great deal of complexity and that Lincoln County remains rural for many reasons.

Limited water supplies, distances to amenities, and our overall situation with lower average-median-incomes all point towards this reality. 

Despite all of this cold, hard reality, it reinforces how important it is for us to continue the effort to improve and increase our local tax base and the economy. 

I would love to see those population numbers start creeping higher, but it certainly appears it's going to take significantly more time. We will stay the course and see what we can do to make the county home for more working folks!