Chelsea Self / Post Independent
The Garfield County Clerk and Recorder’s Office managed to make it all the way from the initial appearance of COVID-19 in the county last March until just before Thanksgiving before recording its first coronavirus shutdown.
No small feat, said Clerk and Recorder Jean Alberico, given hers is one of the higher-traffic offices in Garfield County government alongside the Department of Human Services, which saw even higher customer volumes than usual last year due to the economic impacts of the pandemic.
After a COVID-19 case was traced to the Clerk and Recorder’s Office in Rifle, Alberico said she closed that office for two weeks in late November and early December.
Former Garfield County natural gas operator Ursa Resources, which filed for bankruptcy last year, has paid the county $5.8 million in back property taxes for 2019 that had been in question given the company’s financial problems.
Garfield County Treasurer Carrie Couey said in a Monday press release that her office and the county attorney’s office worked throughout the fall to obtain the funds owed mostly to several local taxing districts, and to the county.
“Garfield County has continued to look out for the interests of its citizens,” Couey said in the release. “We are pleased that the efforts have come to fruition.”
The county announced the payment for 2019 taxes, due last year, in a news release Monday.
âThe payment may ease concerns expressed by western Garfield County taxing authorities running on already lean budgets,â the county said in the release.
Ursa filed for bankruptcy in September. At the time, officials said it owed $5.3 million to the Garfield County Treasurerâs Office. In November, a bankruptcy court approved Ursaâs $60 million sale of its Piceance Basin natural gas assets to Terra Energy Partners. According to the county, Ursaâs 2020 tax obligations payable this year will be assumed by Terra Energy Partners as outlined in the sale agreement made between the companies.
Republican and former speaker of the state House of Representatives Russ George of Rifle already wasn’t a big fan of fellow Garfield County resident and new U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert,