By Smoke from the 2020 Cameron Peak fire over Horsetooth Reservoir. Photo: Lvaughn7 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Larimer County voters have until 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 to decide whether to pay an extra 30 cents on every $100 of taxable purchases, with the money going to wildfire mitigation, watershed protection, roads and bridges, and a list of county services.
Ballot Issue 1A would raise the countywide sales and use tax by 0.3 percentage points, from 1.05% to 1.35%, starting Jan. 1, 2027, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. The tax would have no end date. The county expects it to raise up to $34.5 million in its first year.
Where the money would go
The county commissioners referred the measure to the ballot on Aug. 25. Under the ballot language, the money is dedicated to three broad areas:
- wildfire and natural hazard resilience, including forest health work, protection of drinking water source areas and watershed restoration,
- maintaining, repairing and building county roads, bridges, trails and public recreation lands, with emphasis on safety and evacuation routes, and
- emergency response, public safety systems, delivery of public benefit programs and facility upgrades, including the Larimer County Justice Center.
Groceries for home consumption, gasoline, diapers, prescription drugs and period products would be exempt. Revenue would be subject to an annual independent audit. The measure also lets the county keep and spend all of the new revenue without limits under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
The county’s case
County leaders have framed 1A mostly around fire. “We have had lots of things remind us of the importance of wildfire mitigation, including protecting the watersheds that supply the drinking water of our communities and protecting the escape routes into and out of our forested areas,” Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally, the board’s chair, said when the measure was placed on the ballot. She said every dollar spent on mitigation cuts future damage and response costs by $6 to $13.
Commissioner Kristin Stephens pointed to the budget. “After cutting $6 million from our budget, we still face a shortfall to address critical needs like wildfire mitigation, watershed protection, and road safety as federal and state grant funding shrinks,” she said, adding that county transportation costs have doubled over the past decade.
Sheriff John Feyen gave a sense of what firefighting costs. A single-engine air tanker costs $3,300 to start and another $2,000 an hour to fly, he said. The Ponds fire west of Fort Collins in April was held to less than 10 acres in two hours and still cost county taxpayers more than $30,000, according to Feyen.
Water groups backed the measure as well. “The impacts don’t end when the fire is out,” said Julie Durbin, executive director of Peaks to People. “Small rainstorms post-fire can cause severe erosion, flooding, and debris flows that threaten drinking water quality.”
The case against
Opponents who submitted comments for the county’s TABOR notice argue that sales tax revenue already grows with inflation and population, so a higher rate is not needed, according to the Reporter-Herald. They say living costs are already high and point to the 0.25% county sales tax for child care that voters approved last year. They also object to the TABOR override and the lack of a sunset.
What it adds up to
For a household, the effect depends on how much of its spending is taxable. At the proposed rate, $1,000 in taxable purchases would carry $3 more in county sales tax than it does now. City and state sales taxes, which vary by community, are separate and would not change under 1A.
A yes vote authorizes the increase. A no vote leaves the county rate where it is. Ballots can be returned at drop boxes or voter service centers listed at VoteLarimer.org, and must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks do not count in Colorado.
