Tracy Lawton announced his bid for County Commissioner on Tuesday, challenging current Commissioner Tim Redmond for the seat representing western Routt County.
Longtime Northwest Colorado resident Tracy Lawton announced his candidacy for Routt County Commissioner on Tuesday saying rising property taxes were a primary reason he stepped into the race.
Lawton, who is the only announced Republican candidate for the District Two Commissioner seat, said he is not a “big government” guy and feels that government often ends up being more harm than good.
“As far as I’m concerned, government needs to stay out of the way because they end up messing things up more than they help it,” Lawton said. “It’s not that government is not useful, it’s that they need to know their place.”
Lawton is currently unopposed in the June Republican Primary for the seat. Assuming he gets the party’s nomination, he would challenge current Routt County Commissioner Tim Redmond, a Democrat from Hayden. Lawton described himself as “unafraid” and said while he is a Republican, he is a conservative first.
Having lived in Northwest Colorado for almost his whole life, Lawton said he wants to get his name out there by talking with voters throughout the county — especially those who disagree with him. He said he knows people who tell him they are Democrats, but that they are supportive of his commissioner bid.
“People that know me, know how I am. I’m unfiltered and I’m also unafraid,” Lawton said. “I like to get out and talk to people and I want to talk to people that don’t agree with me. … I talk to people one on one.”
As someone who lives in unincorporated Routt County, Lawton said it seems to him that other parts of the county — particularly Steamboat Springs — have an outsized voice. Lawton specifically pointed to next week’s Brown Ranch Annexation vote in Steamboat Springs, saying he feels it is a project with such a broad impact that the whole county should be voting on it.
“It seems like everybody gets to vote on my taxes going up and I don’t get any say in it,” Lawton said. “My property taxes almost tripled in the last couple of years it seems like… I didn’t vote on that.”
The county has not submitted a question to voters to raise property taxes in recent years, but voters did approve keeping an existing tax in place for the Purchase for Development Rights program in 2022 with more than 85% of voters in support. The main driver of property tax increases recently has been increasing property values, with the Routt County Assessor reporting an increase in assessed value of 57% from the 2021 assessment. Routt County is limited by Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which limits budget increases to a factor of new growth plus inflation. Routt County lowered it’s mill levy as property values have increased to ensure it aligns with TABOR.
Lawton said he didn’t see that kind of value increase on his property, which is west of Hayden. He felt that commissioners should be taking a harder look at the county budget to see where things could be cut or where money could be used more effectively.
“Politicians are too willing to vote for higher tax increases instead of looking to see where we can cut first,” Lawton said. “Instead of increasing taxes, let’s move that money from the program that doesn’t work so well and put it over here and then not burden the taxpayer.”
When it comes to development, Lawton said he believes “you can’t stop progress.” While he believes property owners should have a broad latitude of what they do on their property, the county’s role is to make sure that development is “not bothering somebody else.”
“I’m not here to stop progress and say ‘no’ to everything,” Lawton said. “As long as it’s done right — the planning is done right and it doesn’t burden somebody else. We always have to think about those things: who’s it going to burden?”
Lawton, who works for a propane company locally, says he is supportive of expanded oil and gas development in the valley as long as it doesn’t burden someone else. He also said this type of development needs clear plans for how the landscape will be restored when such development has reached the end of life.
“I guess you could say I’m an environmentalist that wants to be able to use our natural resources,” Lawton said.
As it is still early in the campaign process, Lawton said he is still developing many of his policy positions.
While he noted it is more of a federal issue, Lawton said the county needs to be prepared to deal with impacts from “wide open” borders and crime “going through the roof.” Lawton shared an anecdotal story about a time he may have seen someone shoplift from City Market in Steamboat, noting that it was “pretty brazen.”
While these issues are not as prevalent locally, Lawton said he doesn’t see these as issues isolated to larger cities and wants to make sure the county is prepared to address them, should they arise locally.
“It’s coming our way so we are going to have to start dealing with that,” Lawton said. “Why is the crime rate going up? Well, there’s no consequences anymore. … Now that doesn’t happen so much here. [Local law enforcement is] doing the best they can with what they got, but you do see it creeping out our way more and more.”
Top Photo Caption: District Two Routt County Commissioner Candidate Tracy Lawton and his wife Debbie. (Tracy Lawton/Courtesy)