Las Animas County weighs robotics hub plans against possible budget shortfall

Las Animas County commissioners spent their May 19 meeting looking years ahead to robotics, semiconductor supply chains and a possible manufacturing hub at the airport industrial park, even as county officials warned that about $500,000 in expected sales-tax revenue may not come in.

The debate put two pressures side by side: growth planning and budget discipline. If the county wants to turn industrial land near Perry Stokes Airport into a magnet for higher-wage manufacturing, commissioners will have to decide how much money to direct toward incentives, infrastructure and site readiness while still protecting day-to-day services.

That airport is already a county asset with real budget implications. Perry Stokes Airport is county-owned and sits northeast of Trinidad, and county materials show hangar lease and payment arrangements tied to the site. The county has also been pursuing airport-related improvements, including water and sewer upgrades, to support hangars, fuel services and industrial jobs. Public maps and zoning materials place the airport within the county’s broader land-use and infrastructure framework, making it more than a runway in search of a purpose.

The airport budget has already been lifted by targeted county funding. Commissioners unanimously approved Resolution 25-033, shifting $380,000 in new sales-tax revenue to the Perry Stokes Airport Fund and bringing that fund to $994,545. That move suggests the airport is central to the county’s development strategy, but it also raises the stakes if sales-tax receipts soften elsewhere.

The fiscal pressure is not limited to one fund. The Las Animas County Finance and Accounting Department says its job is to provide accurate, timely and useful financial information and services to elected officials, management and the public. The county’s Road and Bridge Department, meanwhile, says it maintains slightly more than 1,500 miles of roads, 1,787 signs, 231 bridges, 1,016 cattle guards and 2,500 culverts, a reminder that even a modest revenue shortfall can ripple through a rural county with heavy infrastructure demands.

Commissioners adopted the county’s 2026 budget and set the mill levy at 9.372 mills during a Dec. 16 meeting, showing that the current discussion is part of a longer fiscal cycle shaped by tax collections, capital needs and state policy pressure. For Las Animas County, the question now is whether Perry Stokes Airport can help anchor a more diversified economy without forcing taxpayers to cover the gap if the promised revenue falls short.