Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District

Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District Property Tax Limit Waiver

Keeping extra revenue5.25 percent limit waived

Waives the 5.25% property tax revenue limit for the Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District for all future property tax years.

Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District

Kim's Recommendation

Vote No on Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District Ballot Question 6A

Under the state limit, the Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall board keeps its underlying levy on the books and must trim what it collects in any year that revenue would pass the limit, through a temporary credit or a temporary levy cut, or else refund the excess. That yearly duty holds the district's property tax revenue to the limit. Question 6A lifts the duty for all future property tax years.

The limit already lets this district's revenue grow. The law uses the highest qualified property-tax revenue collected and lawfully retained in a year of a previous reassessment cycle, increases that base by 5.25% for each year in the current cycle, and adds any statutory carryover from unused prior-cycle capacity. Question 6A states no dollar amount, so the district's voters are asked to end the credit, levy cut and refund at the 9.753-mill levy without a figure for what the district would keep. I oppose it.

I recommend a no vote on Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District Ballot Question 6A.

Kim Monson

Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026

Certified ballot question

Shall Hot Sulphur Springs - Parshall Fire Protection District waive the 5.25% property tax limit for all future property tax years?

A yes vote means

The district would waive the statutory limit on qualified property-tax revenue for every future property tax year; that limit uses a 5.25%-per-year reassessment-cycle growth factor and any statutory carryover.

A no vote means

The 5.25% limit would keep applying to the district.

Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Revenue Limit01

A yes vote on Question 6A waives the 5.25% property tax limit for the Hot Sulphur Springs-Parshall Fire Protection District for all future property tax years. Question 6A has no end date and names no dollar amount. A no vote keeps the district under the limit.

How the State Limit Works02

Senate Bill 24-233 created a limit on the annual growth of specified property tax revenue for certain local governments other than school districts. House Bill 24B-1001, passed in the 2024 extraordinary session, lowered its 5.5% growth figure to 5.25%. The statutory limit takes the greatest qualified property-tax revenue collected and lawfully retained in a year of a previous reassessment cycle, increases it by 5.25% times the number of years in the current reassessment cycle, and adds any statutory carryover. Carryover accounts for prior-cycle revenue capacity the district was allowed to retain but did not use. The same bill raises the limit by the difference between the revenue a local government retained and the revenue it could have retained under the limit.

Section 29-1-1702 of the Colorado Revised Statutes applies the limit to property tax years starting on or after January 1, 2025. To keep revenue under it, the governing body either enacts a temporary property tax credit or temporarily reduces its mill levy. Neither step changes the underlying levy, and the statute states that reducing or eliminating either one "does not require prior voter approval under section 20 (4)(a) of article X of the state constitution." A district that exceeds the limit without taking either step must refund the excess revenue.

The District and Its Levy03

The district's website describes a volunteer fire department founded in 1956 that serves central and western Grand County. It covers about 257 square miles and runs seven apparatus from Station 1 in Hot Sulphur Springs and Station 2 in Parshall. Its transparency notice, dated January 31, 2026, lists a current mill levy of 9.753 mills and ad valorem (property) tax revenue of $500,923; the notice says revenue reported may be incomplete or unaudited as of the date it was posted.

Sources04

Official documents