by Lynn Johnson, Human Services Director
comments open from January 12 until January 31

On Thursday, December 10, Governor Ritter visited the Jefferson County Workforce Center to officially launch the CareerReady Colorado Certificate, a tool that helps match the right person with the right job.

The CareerReady Colorado Certificate is awarded after an individual completes a skills assessment at any workforce center. The assessment, a WorkKeys system from ACT, verifies workplace skills in reading for information, locating information and applied mathematics.

While job seeking, David Bebout used his certificate to land a job at Envergent, an environmental assessment company. "This is gauging intellectual qualities, commitment, team work analysis and analytical skills," Bebout said. "These are all things that any business can utilize and so can any job-seeker."

Ameristar is one of those businesses realizing the benefits of the CareerReady Colorado Certificate. "At Ameristar Casino Resort Spa, we just opened our 4 star hotel in October, and found that utilizing the WorkKeys assessments that can lead to a CareerReady Colorado certificate helped us to identify the best qualified candidates in the most timely manner. Working with the Jeffco Workforce Center to administer the assessments has made it very easy for us," says Reggie Fullwood, Sr. VP & GM, Ameristar Casino Resort Spa, Black Hawk.

In addition to launching the CareerReady Colorado Certificate, the governor unveiled three legislative proposals intended to help employees and small businesses with job training and retraining programs:
• Incentives for health care professionals to work in rural areas.
• Extended eligibility of the existing CollegeInvest nurse loan forgiveness program.
• Implementing employee funded job-retraining accounts which would offer incentives to businesses that match contributions.

Gov. Bill Ritter told the crowd that this is the worst economy since the Great Depression. "Government can't solve the unemployment problem by itself, but it does have a role," Ritter said. "We're making significant investments in job training and retraining programs so that Coloradans have the right skills for the new jobs that we're able to build in this economy," Ritter said.

by Todd Leopold, Administrative Services Director
comments open from January 11 to January 30

As many citizens are adapting their budgets to the changing economy, so is Jefferson County. On January 1, Jefferson County started its 2010 fiscal year with a budget that reflects an increased focus on meeting the social services needs of families within the county, such as food stamps, housing assistance and workforce development opportunities.

Jefferson County has experienced a 25 percent increase in child-care assistance and a 28 percent increase in food stamp needs over the past year. Although the county receives state and federal funds for these programs, the county is a primary financial contributor to these programs as well.

On December 8, Commissioners unanimously voted to adopt the $412.3 million operating and capital budget for 2010, which is a 6.5 percent increase over the previous year. Most of that increase is attributed to intergovernmental expenditures, which are mostly offset from revenues received through federal and state grants. Human Services, particularly the Workforce and Community Development areas, is the county’s largest benefactor of those grants.

In an effort to address the ongoing facility maintenance needs of the county, Commissioners approved the creation of a Building Maintenance Reserve. This was in response to a 2009 Citizen Budget Review Panel recommendation to create a reserve to ensure that adequate funding is available for major building maintenance needs into the future.

Some other notable expenses in the adopted budget included:

• $2.9 million for mid-term election expenses;
• $1.3 million to maintain the county’s pavement management program;
• $6.8 million in annual debt service payments to cover the county’s Certificates of Participation that were issued in 2009;
• $20.2 million in various road and bridge construction improvement projects;
• $5.1 million to fund the county’s overall fleet replacement program;
• $5 million for Open Space land acquisitions.

The Commissioners also supported the addition of three full-time equivalent positions – two in the Open Space division and one in the Public Trustee’s Office. This brings the total approved FTE count to about 2,926 for 2010.

Learn more by viewing the entire 2010 Adopted Budget.