Pueblo Fire and Public-Safety Technology Sales and Use Tax

Question 2A adds one-quarter percent (0.25%) to the City of Pueblo's sales and use tax on January 1, 2027, by adopting Ordinance No. 11243. The city puts the first full fiscal year's increase at $5,878,267.00; later years bring whatever the added quarter percent collects. The ballot question sets no end date, and the city's background paper says the new rate "would be permanent." It stacks on the city's current rate, which the paper describes as a base rate plus voter-approved increments for capital improvement projects and for police personnel and operating needs. On August 24, 2026, the City Council voted 5-2 to send the question to voters in Ordinance No. 11255.

Revenue, with its interest, penalties and investment income, goes into a new Department of Fire and Technology Related to Public Safety Sales and Use Tax Fund, which the city may spend only on the fire department and on technology related to public safety within the city. The paper says the city has no dedicated revenue stream for this work today; the General Fund and limited fees and charges pay for it. The referral ordinance cites Section 18-5 of the city charter: only voters can repeal or amend an ordinance that voters adopted, so the council cannot redirect the fund without voter approval.

Ordinance 11243 lets the council, in anticipation of the tax revenue and subject to the Colorado Constitution, issue revenue bonds payable solely from the fund to finance capital improvements for fire and public-safety technology purposes.

According to the background paper from the deputy city attorney, the department strives to follow NFPA 1900, Appendix F, under which frontline equipment should go to reserve status after 15 years. Three frontline vehicles are older than that and need replacing. One apparatus costs more than $1,200,000 and takes two years to build, and once the department replaces the older fleet, it will need to replace one apparatus a year. The department spends an average of $150,000 a year maintaining aging equipment. The paper calls these needs "some examples of how the money could be used"; the ballot question binds the money to a purpose, not to those examples. The paper also names portable and mobile radios, cardiac monitors, radio towers, drones for fire response, in-car computers, and dispatch and records software as technology public safety depends on.

A yes vote lets the city keep and spend all of the tax's revenue outside the limits of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, and of any other law.