Half of Haxtun's community center sales tax could be used for streets and drainage from 2027

Haxtun voters approved a 0.5% sales tax for construction of a community center in 1998, and in 2001 a use tax increase that put 0.5% toward the community center project, according to the Colorado Municipal League's record of municipal tax elections. The ballot now describes that 0.5% sales and use tax as dedicated to funding and maintaining the community center. In 2021 the Town Council referred a question, set out in Resolution 2021-4, that allowed the whole 0.5% to be used "FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF STREET IMPROVEMENTS BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2022 AND ENDING ON DECEMBER 31, 2026 ONLY, AFTER WHICH TIME THE 0.5% SALES AND USE TAX SHALL AGAIN BE UTILIZED FOR COMMUNITY CENTER PURPOSES AS PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED." Voters passed it that November, according to the League's record. Ballot Issue 2A decides what the tax may pay for once that permission lapses.

Under 2A, beginning January 1, 2027, 0.25% could be used for "STREET, STREET REPAIR, AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS" and the remaining 0.25% for funding and maintaining the community center. The question sets no end year for the change, and the Haxtun-Fleming Herald describes it as a permanent reallocation. The Town Council placed it on the ballot by approving Ordinance No. 2026-1, the Herald reported.

A no vote lets the 2021 terms run out, and under that resolution the full 0.5% goes back to community center purposes after December 31, 2026. A yes vote permits half of the tax for streets where the expiring permission covered all of it, and it names drainage and street repair where the 2021 wording named "CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF STREET IMPROVEMENTS."

2A changes only what the existing tax may pay for. It sets no higher rate, and it asks for no permission to keep revenue above a TABOR limit. The state's rate table, DR 1002 (January 2026 edition), lists Haxtun's town sales tax at 3.50%, Phillips County's at 1% and the state's at 2.9%, rates that total 7.4% on a fully taxable sale in town. Haxtun also charges its 3.50% as a use tax on motor vehicles and building materials, and Phillips County charges its 1% use tax on the same items.

DR 1002 lists no local exemptions for Haxtun and only farm equipment for Phillips County, and it says a state-collected local jurisdiction has no exemption the table does not list for it. By that table, food for home consumption bought in town carries the town's 3.50%, including the community center's 0.5%, and the county's 1%, though the state exempts it.

The community center tax is one part of the town's 3.50%. Another part is a 1.0% sales and use tax that voters approved in 2010 for street improvements, according to Resolution 2021-4.

The town's 2026 budget, adopted December 1, 2025, in Resolution 2025-9, estimates Community Center Fund spending at $32,975. It lists $29,475 of that from appropriated surpluses and $3,500 from sources other than property tax. At the same meeting the council raised the fund's 2025 appropriation by $20,000, from $80,625 to $100,625, to cover costs that included a new emergency generator. The preliminary 2026 budget presented in October 2025 also listed "various street improvement projects," according to the council's minutes.

2A appears on Phillips County's ballot for the November 3, 2026, election, and only voters in the Town of Haxtun decide it. The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate puts the town's population at 951. No comments for or against 2A were filed by the constitutional deadline, according to the TABOR notice the county posted for the town. The Herald reported that town officials say the change would continue a funding strategy already in place without increasing taxes.