Term Limits for Four County Offices

Government structureTerm limits

Removes the limit on how many consecutive terms Montezuma County's assessor, clerk and recorder, surveyor and treasurer may serve.

Montezuma County

On the November 3, 2026 ballot

Kim's Recommendation

Vote No on Montezuma County Ballot Question 1A

Montezuma County voters have adjusted these limits before. In 2007 they gave the assessor, the clerk and the treasurer a third consecutive term and kept a limit on each. Question 1A sets no new limit. It removes the limit for four offices in one stroke, and a voter who wants a limit kept on the treasurer's office but lifted on the surveyor's has one yes or no to cast for both.

I oppose ending these limits outright. I want each office's limit put to voters office by office, not dropped for all four with one answer.

I recommend a no vote on Montezuma County Ballot Question 1A.

Kim Monson

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

Certified ballot question

Shall the Assessor, Clerk and Recorder, Surveyor, and Treasurer for Montezuma County be allowed, if elected by the registered electors of Montezuma County, to serve an unlimited number of consecutive terms?

A yes vote means

Those four county officials may serve an unlimited number of consecutive terms, if the voters keep electing them.

A no vote means

The existing limit on consecutive terms stays in place.

Assessor, Clerk, Surveyor and Treasurer01

Question 1A covers four elected Montezuma County offices: the assessor, the clerk and recorder, the surveyor and the treasurer. A yes vote allows the holders of those offices, if elected by the county's registered electors, to serve an unlimited number of consecutive terms. A no vote leaves the present limits in place. KSJD reported that officeholders would still have to run for reelection every four years if the measure passes.

The Limits in Place Today02

Article 18 of the Colorado Constitution limits these offices to two consecutive terms and lets voters extend, shorten or eliminate that limit, The Journal reported. In 2007 local voters approved three consecutive terms for the assessor, the clerk and the treasurer, the paper reported.

KSJD reported in July that Treasurer Ellen Black and Assessor Leslie Bugg were both coming to the end of their second terms, and that Clerk and Recorder Kim Percell is term-limited and leaving at the end of 2026. At the March 3 commissioners' meeting, Percell clarified that the proposed term-limit question would not apply to her.

How the Question Reached the Ballot03

On February 17 the Board of County Commissioners directed the county attorney to prepare a ballot question removing the term limits on the assessor, the clerk and the treasurer. Resolution 7-2026, adopted July 14, told the county clerk that the board intended to ask voters whether to eliminate term limits for four offices: those three and the county surveyor. On August 25 the board approved Resolution 9-2026, which submits the question to the November 3 election. Question 1B, on the same ballot, asks whether to raise the county lodging tax from 2% to 5%; neither question's text depends on the other's result.

KSJD reported that the commissioners have described the four offices as nonpolitical jobs that require professional expertise, and have questioned whether the people holding them should have to leave.

Sources04

Official documents

Montezuma County certified sample ballot, November 3, 2026 election