Colorado tax hike proposals struggling among voters
Nov. 8—Palmer Lake, Fountain and Cripple Creek sought tax increases from voters Tuesday.
The city of Fountain asked voters to approve a property tax hike that would increase the mill levy from 10.239 mills to 16.339 mills. Just after the first batch of votes came in Tuesday, the proposal was favored to win 56% to 44%.
The mill increase amounts to residents paying $138 more each year on a $400,000 home and would bring in $1.7 million annually, allowing for the city to add six firefighters, six police officers as well as allocate funds for recruitment and retention.
Fountain Police Chief Chris A. Heberer said the city's public safety departments are beginning to feel the strain of serving an increasing population.
"Our motto was protect our community. What we see is that, specifically on the fire side, our response times are starting to crack," he said. "You drop another 15,000, 20,000 people into the community, the level of service our community gets now and overall safety is going to be dramatically different. ... We don't want to get behind it because once we get behind we can't catch up."
Heberer said the city had money to build a new fire station to the east where there has been growth, but it made no sense to do so if it couldn't be staffed.
He said the last time the mill levy was increased was in 1990.
City officials in Palmer Lake, located just north of Monument, proposed a property tax increase that was tied to a question about legalizing recreational marijuana sales at two shops. If both pass, the mill levy would increase from 11.238 mills to 26.238 mills. If just the property tax increase passed, the mill levy would go from 11.238 mills to 41.238 mills.
As of Tuesday night, voters in Palmer Lake rejected the property tax increase proposal by nearly a 2-to-1 margin with nay voters making up 62.39% of the vote with 1,013 total votes cast.
Regarding the question to permit two retail marijuana shops, voters approved the question with 55.18% of the vote cast Tuesday night.
Palmer Lake officials said previously that every municipal department is underfunded, including having fewer firefighters than acceptable under national standards.
The tax money will would go to staff, equipment replacement and infrastructure, especially improving the town's storm water drainage system. Palmer Lake does not have curbs or gutters. Instead water simply flows down hill and homes have flooded due to the lack of infrastructure.
In Cripple Creek, the town sought to recover from lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. City officials asked voters to approved a 1 cent or 1% sales tax that voters appeared to have rejected by a 58% to 42% margin as of Tuesday evening. The tax would bring the sales tax from 2% to 3% but would not impact food purchased for home consumption.
The tax increase could bring in anywhere from $300,000 to $900,000 in a full fiscal year. The money will go to the city's general fund, which oversees first responder services as well as parks and road repairs.
City officials have not decided how the funds will be allocated but will finalize a 2023 city budget Dec. 7.
