News in Ridgway, CO

Ouray County Plaindealer · Ridgway, CO

Keep calm and build on

Ridgway School District Lego robotics team members celebrate as their autonomous Lego robot completes its mission on a tabletop game field on Saturday during the FIRST Lego League Challenge held at Ridgway Secondary School. Pictured here, from left to right, are eighth graders Sawyer Mullins, Brielle Haag and Sadie McCracken, members of the RoboRidgway team that qualified to compete at the state competition on Dec. 5. Ridgway’s sixth-grade team, Sensory Overload, earned first place for robot performance and will also compete at state. Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer Ouray School fifth-graders Quinn Mathews, Declan Doose and Jonah Skalsky nervously celebrate as their Lego robot performs tasks on the table top game field on Saturday during the FIRST Lego League Challenge. Their Mission Impossible team and the Tommyknockers team competed for Ouray this year, and the Tommyknockers won the core values award.

Ouray County Plaindealer · Ridgway, CO

Ridgway will pull from reserves to cover expenses in 2027

The town of Ridgway will continue to draw down its general fund reserves to cover expenses in 2027, even as town leaders plan to discuss more budget cuts later this month. During a budget retreat on Halloween, Town Manager Preston Neill alerted the town council to a trend of expenditures exceeding revenues in the town’s adopted budgets since 2020. That will continue in 2027, as next year’s draft general fund budget will draw $1.36 million from reserves to end 2027 with a $2.65 million fund balance. The numbers are not as bad as they look, however, since actual revenues this year have generally been higher than budgeted and actual expenditures have been lower. In 2025, for example, revenues were budgeted at $3.52 million and expenditures were budgeted at $4.91 million, but the revenues and expenditures were both nearly $4 million. From an accounting perspective, Neill said he wants to budget closer to actual amounts.

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Ouray County Plaindealer · Ouray, CO

Nearby: Ouray, CO

Shuttle service to shut down

The OurWay commuter shuttle service that runs between Ouray, Ridgway and Montrose will shut down at the end of this year due to lack of funding. After nearly three years, the pilot program’s $531,000 Multimodal Transportation and Mitigations Option Fund grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation has run out, and Ouray County’s local governments haven’t agreed to keep funding the program. The county, the city of Ouray and the town of Ridgway initially contributed nearly $178,000 in matching funds. Ouray County drafted a letter to officially notify All Points Transit, the Montrose-based nonprofit running the shuttle. The county plans to terminate its participation in the program on Dec. 31. According to a note on All Point’s website the last day of operations will be Dec. 30. Commissioner Jake Niece said he met with All Points on Nov. 9.

Ouray County Plaindealer · Ouray, CO

Nearby: Ouray, CO

CDOT plans projects for 2027, future

The Colorado Department of Transportation has no major construction planned next year in Ouray County, but more projects are in store for the future. CDOT staff presented a roundup of current and future road projects during an annual update with Ouray County commissioners Oct. 28. Pedestrian improvements to U.S. Highway 550 in Ouray, which began in September, should finish by the end of the year, said Annie Altwarg, multimodal and transit liaison for CDOT Region 5. The $1.25 million project funded by CDOT’s Revitalizing Main Streets grant program includes a new sidewalk from the Ouray Visitor Center to Fellin Park, flashing pedestrian crossings at the visitor center and at the hairpin parking lot at County Road 361, as well as access improvements to that parking lot. CDOT’s Division of Maintenance and Operations plans chipseal maintenance next year on U.S. Highway 550 over a four-mile stretch south of Ouray.

Ouray County Plaindealer · Ouray, CO

Nearby: Ouray, CO

Ouray sewer, water rates to rise 4% next year

Ouray residents and business owners will pay close to $5 a month more for water and sewer service in 2027, as the city seeks to ensure there is enough money in its utility funds to cover debt payments for the new water and wastewater treatment plants. The Ouray City Council voted 4-1 on Oct. 19 to first approve the ordinance that will boost the charges for water, sewer, trash and recycling services from $234.64 this year to $239.34 in 2027. Councilor Dave Doherty cast the dissenting vote. The council voted 4-0 to adopt the ordinance on second reading on Nov. 2, when councilors refused to allow Doherty to participate in the meeting remotely. The increase is coming from two places: the base water and sewer rates. The base water rate will increase from $51.52 to $53.58 per month. The base sewer rate will increase from $65.91 to $68.55 per month. That amounts to a 4% increase of $4.70 per month.