$58 Million and a Mosquito

Every year, the federal government sends money to El Paso County with almost no strings attached. No Washington official decides whether it funds a new ramp at a community center or repairs to a house that hasn’t been livable for years. That decision happens here, in a conference room, by a volunteer board most residents have never heard of. The Community Development Advisory Board met on February 18th to review every application for 2026 CDBG funding. Housing rehabilitation. Accessibility improvements. Public facilities in neighborhoods that have been on waiting lists. The board organized, elected new leadership, and continued its review process. Final recommendations will go to the commissioners for a vote. The board has vacancies. That means there are seats at the table where this money gets decided — and those seats are currently empty.

In the same building, later the same day, the Community Corrections Board was doing something harder to describe but just as consequential. Every month, they review individual cases. Real people with names and circumstances and histories. The board — made up of appointed citizens, the sheriff’s office, the courts, and the district attorney — votes on whether those people stay in community programs or don’t. Community corrections is not prison and it is not freedom. It’s supervised housing, required employment, regular check-ins with people whose job is to verify compliance. Two organizations run these programs in El Paso County: Embrave, and Community Alternatives of El Paso County. The board heard financial reports, reviewed program performance, elected a new Chair and Vice Chair, and introduced a first reading of a bylaws revision. Bylaws are the rules of how a board operates. A first reading means the change has been proposed. No vote yet — that comes at the second reading. We’ll be there.

Thursday brought the item that named this episode. The Planning Commission met to consider a single application: Lorson Ranch Metropolitan District Number Six. Two hundred ninety-one point nine acres in southeastern El Paso County. Maximum authorized debt of $58 million. Maximum mill levy of 60 mills. The services the district would provide read like a complete municipal infrastructure list — roads, water, sanitation, drainage, recreation, security — with one addition that stood out: mosquito control. A metropolitan district is a legal structure that lets developers finance infrastructure upfront and pass the repayment obligation to future homeowners through property taxes. Those homeowners haven’t moved in yet. Many haven’t bought yet. Some haven’t been born yet. At 60 mills, a home assessed at $300,000 could carry $18,000 per year in district taxes alone — before county and school levies. The Planning Commission approved the service plan. The Dais will track what happens next.

Rush Cafe is still waiting. March 3rd is the next hearing before the Board of County Commissioners. We’ll be there for that too. In the meantime, this is what a week in El Paso County government looks like when you’re paying attention.