Basalt Sales Tax for Public Services Facilities

Under Ordinance No. 20, Series of 2026, which the Town Council adopted 6-0 on August 25, 2026, Ballot Issue 3A adds 0.5% to Basalt's sales tax from January 1, 2027, through collection year 2046. As an example, at 0.5%, $100 of taxable purchases in Basalt adds 50 cents. The question caps the new revenue at $1,700,000 in the first full fiscal year, 2027, and after that at whatever the rate raises each year. The town may collect, retain and spend the revenue and its investment income outside the revenue and spending limits of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution) and any other law.

The money may pay for the acquisition, planning, construction, operation, maintenance, repair and replacement of public services facilities and related infrastructure and equipment. That wording covers public services facilities in general, not only the building the ordinance's findings describe.

The ordinance finds that the Basalt Police Department works from a building not designed for law enforcement and lacking secure parking for patrol vehicles, dedicated detainee processing areas, private interview rooms or adequate evidence storage. It finds that Public Works operates from five separate locations, including temporary structures past their useful life. The council wants a joint public services building, along with other facility improvements and equipment. Town Manager Gloria Kaasch-Buerger has said the building is planned for a site along East Valley Road that the town recently annexed, with construction likely to begin in 2028.

Kaasch-Buerger told the council on August 25 that the project cost is not to exceed $25 million, with $7 million from the General Fund and $18 million financed, and that the tax is intended to sunset when that financing is complete. At first reading on August 11, she said the town tied the sunset to loan repayment in response to community feedback; the ordinance sets the end at collection year 2046.

In July, Finance Director Doug Pattison estimated the tax at about $1.5 million a year, enough to support roughly $18.5 million in borrowing over 20 years at an assumed 5% rate. He also described a more limited borrowing scenario if the tax fails: about $5 million of borrowing secured by an existing $400,000 yearly budget allocation, for a reduced funding stack of around $13.5 million.

The same ballots carry Basalt & Rural Fire Protection District Ballot Issue 7A, a 0.55% sales tax on transactions in the fire district that is decided apart from 3A.