Unlimited consecutive terms for Rio Blanco County's treasurer

Rio Blanco County's treasurer collects the property taxes owed in the county, and the state constitution says each county's treasurer "shall be collector of taxes." Every January 10, the assessor delivers the treasurer the prior year's tax warrant, which lists all property owners' names, their property and the taxes due. The treasurer is responsible for collecting all taxes on the warrant. The treasurer holds a four-year term and takes office in January after the election. Republican Rebecca Balboa is the only candidate for treasurer on the November ballot.

The cap sits in the state constitution's Article XVIII, Section 11: two consecutive terms for an elected county official, with terms "at least four years apart" not counted as consecutive. The section's second subsection gives the county's voters the power to change it.

A 1996 vote to waive limits for every Rio Blanco County official failed, and a 1999 vote passed, the Herald Times reported. In 2020 the commissioners discussed which offices should be exempt because of the training and certification they require, and gave each office a separate ballot question. The Herald Times reported before that election that the change would not apply retroactively, so an official then in office could potentially serve eight more years after 2020.

By the Herald Times' account, the 2020 results left the coroner and sheriff without limits. The Daily Sentinel's list adds the surveyor, and it reported that the commissioners, assessor, clerk and treasurer went back to two four-year terms.

The certified question asks whether the treasurer, "if elected by the registered electors of Rio Blanco County," may "serve an unlimited number of consecutive terms." Approval ends the two-term cap for the treasurer, who still faces the voters every four years. Rejection leaves the cap at two consecutive terms. Neither result changes a tax or spending, and no end date is written into the question.

Questions 1A, 1C and 1D put the same choice for the assessor, the clerk and recorder, and the commissioners.

Rangely residents who favor ending the limits said at a hearing there that the restrictions keep qualified candidates from seeking office in a small county. Rodger Polley, who owns a business in Rangely, warned that eliminating limits could lead to entrenched leadership and reduced public trust, a concern he pressed particularly for commissioner seats.

When the commissioners took comment in Meeker on May 5, they discussed the difficulty of recruiting and retaining qualified candidates. Christine Hicken, a longtime election judge, said at that hearing that limits can cost offices whose statutory duties are complex, elections above all, their continuity and expertise.