Larimer County 0.3% sales and use tax for wildfire, roads and public safety

Ballot Issue 1A is a dedicated county sales and use tax – about 3¢ per $10 – to protect Larimer County’s water, forests, roads, and public safety. Groceries, gas, diapers, and prescription drugs are all exempt from this tax so everyday essentials are not affected. 1A will raise up to $34.5 million a year to go towards four key purposes: water protection, wildfire mitigation, roads, and public safety. Ballot Issue 1A is about protecting the watershed that supplies drinking water across Larimer County, from Fort Collins to Loveland and beyond. 1A is about our safety: faster wildfire prevention and emergency response, countywide. Every dollar invested in prevention today saves far more in recovery costs later – this is an investment that pays for itself. This is about protecting the place we love: the water we drink, the forests around us, and the roads we drive every day. Ballot Issue 1A means a stronger Larimer County.

Larimer County’s forests and watersheds are essential to our drinking water supply, public safety, local economy, and quality of life. Across Colorado, as many as 80% of residents rely on forested watersheds for their municipal water supplies. Protecting these lands is not simply an environmental issue—it is an investment in the health, safety, and future of our communities.

The Cameron Peak Fire showed us how catastrophic wildfires can threaten lives, homes, businesses, critical infrastructure, forest health, and the watersheds that supply our drinking water. It also demonstrated that the cost of responding after a disaster is far greater than the cost of preparing beforehand. Research shows that every dollar invested in proactive mitigation can return as much as seven dollars in avoided costs associated with emergency response, fire suppression, economic losses, and long-term recovery. Larimer County has spent the past several years conducting studies and developing strategic plans to identify our greatest risks, establish priorities, and determine what resources are needed. We know where the needs are, and we know what must be done. What we need now is dedicated funding to put those plans into action. Forest and watershed restoration is more than a land-management challenge. It requires a coordinated approach that strengthens our entire community. Proactive mitigation creates jobs, protects water quality, supports wildlife habitat, improves soil health, safeguards recreation and tourism, and helps our communities recover more quickly when disasters occur. Ballot Issue 1A proposes a 0.3% county sales tax—a tax of three cents on a ten-dollar taxable purchase. It would not apply to groceries, gasoline, diapers, or prescription drugs. I support Ballot Issue 1A because investing now can reduce future costs, protect our water, strengthen public safety, and help preserve Larimer County for generations to come.

The ballot issue asks county voters to authorize a $34.5 million increase in yearly County spending and permanently raises sales-tax rate by one-fourth to pay for it, yet without a corresponding increase in benefits to county taxpayers in general. Sales-tax revenues increase automatically with inflation & population growth, so rate increases are not necessary for the County to do what it is supposed to be doing with the money taxpayers already agreed to give it, unless the County is failing in that. The additional County spending alone will cost every Larimer household another $90 in reduced buying power each year – for each person living there. If there are some extraordinary purchases during the year, it can be much more. The extra tax burden comes at a time where the rise in cost of living threatens to reduce buying power itself by $900 in the same year. Not to mention the effect of all the other tax increases which are also on the ballot this year. Worse still, should this tax increase bring in more revenue in future years that voters now agree to, the present ballot measure provides that the County gets to keep & spend that windfall, instead of refunding it (and instituting a tax- cut to keep faith). Future voters have the constitutional right to make that decision at that time, but this measure takes that right away from them. This increase is on top of another recent sales-tax rate increase (of one-third) – so the County could provide child- care, of all things – and a yearly property-tax windfall coming from a “re-valuation” of residential properties (up to 100%), which the County refused to refund to unprepared homeowners. And it got away with that both times. All this shows a pattern of predation by County government, but fortunately all this is something that voters have the present opportunity to veto by voting NO on Ballot Issue 1A. Thereby forcing part of our “self-government” in some significant way to stay in its lane and live within OUR means.