Property tax for the Healthy Community Fund

Property tax increaseA new levy replacing one that expires

Replaces the expiring Healthy Community Fund property tax with a 0.853-mill levy for up to 25 years, with the first full fiscal year of collection in 2028.

Pitkin County

On the November 3, 2026 ballot

Kim's Recommendation

Vote No on Pitkin County Ballot Issue 1A

I oppose tying this property tax to valuations for up to 25 years. The Healthy Community Fund tax that expires in 2027 collects a set dollar amount each year. Ballot Issue 1A trades it for a fixed rate, and the county's projection shows the result: $5,266,081 in 2028 and $7,857,989 in 2036, at the same 0.853 mills and with no further vote. Each year that valuations climb, Pitkin County property owners pay more toward this levy.

Earlier authorizations of this fund ran four to nine years, which returned the tax to voters in 2006, 2011 and 2018. This one runs up to 25 years, and a yes vote lets the county retain all revenue from this tax above the TABOR limits. I want the county to return revenue above those limits to the people who paid it, and I oppose committing Pitkin County property owners to a levy whose collections follow valuations for a term that long.

I recommend a no vote on Pitkin County Ballot Issue 1A.

Kim Monson

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

Certified ballot question

SHALL PITKIN COUNTY TAXES BE INCREASED BY $5,266,081.00 ANNUALLY, BEGINNING IN THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR OF COLLECTION IN 2028, TO CONTINUE FUNDING THE HEALTHY COMMUNITY FUND, WHICH HAS PROVIDED FUNDING FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND COMMUNITY NON-PROFITS FOR THE PAST TWENTY-FOUR YEARS, AFTER THE CURRENT PROPERTY TAX EXPIRES IN 2027, AND BY SUCH ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS AS ARE GENERATED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER FOR A PERIOD NOT TO EXCEED TWENTY FIVE YEARS, BY THE IMPOSITION OF A NEW 0.853 MILL LEVY, FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING A STABLE FUNDING SOURCE FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND COMMUNITY NON-PROFITS INCLUDING: • PROTECTIVE AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES, INCLUDING FOOD ACCESS, FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS • SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING HEALTHY AGING FOR OLDER ADULTS • SUPPORTING SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT • BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND AFTERCARE SERVICES • CARE FOR THE TERMINALLY ILL AND THEIR FAMILIES • PROTECTING AND SUPPORTING NATURAL RESOURCES • PREVENTIVE AND INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE SERVICES FOR LOWER-INCOME INDIVIDUALS • SERVICES SUPPORTING INDEPENDENCE FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES AND SHALL THE COUNTY BE AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT, RETAIN, AND SPEND ALL REVENUES FROM SUCH TAX AND THE INTEREST EARNINGS THEREON AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE ABOVE THE ANNUAL LIMITS OF ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION AND ABOVE ANNUAL LIMITS WHICH MIGHT OTHERWISE APPLY OR BE PROPOSED, INCLUDING AS AN APPROVED EXCEPTION TO THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN SECTION 29-1-301 OF THE COLORADO REVISED STATUTES OR ARTICLE 9 OF THE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER?

A yes vote means

Approves the replacement levy for the Healthy Community Fund and lets the county keep its revenue and interest earnings outside annual revenue limits.

A no vote means

Rejects the replacement levy. The current Healthy Community Fund property tax expires in 2027.

How the New Levy Collects01

Pitkin County's Healthy Community Fund runs on a property tax that expires at the end of 2027. Ballot Issue 1A replaces it with a new 0.853-mill levy, beginning in the first full fiscal year of collection in 2028 and lasting no more than 25 years. As an example, at 0.853 mills, $100,000 of taxable assessed value owes $85.30 a year. The ballot states the increase as $5,266,081 in the first full year of collection, plus whatever more the levy generates in later years.

The county's agenda item summary says the expiring tax collects the same amount each year regardless of property valuations. The new levy is a fixed mill rate, and its collections follow valuations. The summary projects that the 0.853 rate raises $5,266,081 in 2028, about $500,000 more than the current amount converted to a mill levy, approximately $4,766,081. At that rate it projects $6,331,935 in 2032 and $7,857,989 in 2036. Earlier authorizations of the fund carried sunset periods of four to nine years, the summary says.

Healthy Community Fund Uses and Grants02

County voters first approved the fund's tax in 2002 and renewed it in 2006, 2011 and 2018. The question makes a stable funding source for health and human services and community nonprofits the levy's sole purpose, and lists eight uses:

Protective and supportive services, including food access, for children and adults.
Services and activities supporting healthy aging for older adults.
Support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Behavioral health and substance use prevention, treatment and aftercare.
Care for the terminally ill and their families.
Protecting and supporting natural resources.
Preventive and integrated health care for lower-income people.
Services supporting independence for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

The commissioners approved the ballot-title resolution, as amended, 5-0 on Aug. 26. The draft in their Aug. 26 packet keeps the collections in a separate fund and allows up to 5% for administration, plus the Treasurer's fees. A citizen grant review committee that the commissioners appoint recommends the grants. The draft's initial shares are 46% to nonprofit health and human services agencies, 22% to public health services, 15% to senior services and 12% to community nonprofits, and the commissioners may adjust them as community needs change. The draft says the fund does not guarantee a specific level of funding to any agency.

Revenue Above the TABOR Limits03

A yes vote also lets the county collect, retain and spend all revenue from this tax and its interest earnings as a voter-approved revenue change above the annual limits of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) and other annual limits that might apply or be proposed, including C.R.S. 29-1-301 and Article 9 of the county's home rule charter.

Annual cost of the proposed levy

The proposed 0.853-mill levy costs $0.853 a year for every $1,000 of taxable assessed value.

Example at $100,000 taxable assessed value

$100,000 × 0.853 ÷ 1,000 = $85.30

Taxable assessed value is not a home's market value. For 2026 it is about 6% to 7% of the actual value the county assessor sets. A home with an actual value of $500,000 has an assessed value of about $30,600 for local government taxes and $35,250 for school district taxes.

This estimates only the proposed replacement levy. It does not subtract the expiring tax or include other property taxes. It is not the total bill or the net change from the prior year.

Pitkin County sample ballot, Ballot Issue 1A; Larimer County Treasurer, property tax calculation.

Sources04

Official documents

Pitkin County sample ballot, November 3, 2026 election