A three-year Rocky Ford sales and use tax of 1.5% for police, fire, emergency medical and other public safety services

The City of Rocky Ford's general fund ended 2025 with a deficit fund balance of $719,084, down from a balance of $6,188 a year earlier, according to its audited financial statements for that year, issued August 21, 2026. The notes to those statements trace the deficit "primarily" to public safety, a category that in Rocky Ford takes in police, fire, ambulance, dispatch, wildland fire and interfacility transport services. They say spending in that category rose by "approximately $1.9 million" since 2022 "without a sufficient corresponding increase in revenues."

At the end of 2025 the general fund also owed $1,932,989 to the city's water, sewer and solid waste funds. The auditors say its deficit cash position led it to borrow from those funds, and they rate the city's monitoring of the cash balances in its pooled account a material weakness.

In 2025 the general fund spent $3,807,142 on public safety against a budget of $3,532,385. The police department exceeded its budget by $201,018 and the ambulance department by $225,611. Revenue fell short as well: the general fund took in $4,211,978 of the $5,358,732 it budgeted, and grants came in $940,177 below plan. The notes say management's plan to close the deficit "includes a proposed increase in sales tax restricted for Public Safety" and a budget that holds spending within the revenue it expects.

The city's 2026 adopted budget sets police department spending at $1,048,719.51 and ambulance spending at $997,019.50, which includes $450,000 to replace an ambulance. It shows a surplus of $20,314 by counting a proposed $300,000 enterprise franchise fee and $144,000 in trash truck insurance funds, and it counts no revenue from 2A.

At its July 14 meeting the city council discussed a 1.5% tax for police, fire and EMS as "a temporary funding measure to maintain current public safety operations and address staffing needs," according to its minutes, backed a three-year sunset and directed the city attorney to draft the ballot language.

On July 28 the council adopted Resolution No. 3, Series 2026, submitting the question to the November 3 election. The vote was 4-0, with three of the seven members absent.

Rocky Ford now levies a 4% city sales tax, with a 3% city use tax on motor vehicles and building materials, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue's rate table for January 2026. Otero County adds 1% and the state 2.9%, for a combined sales tax rate of 7.9%. Question 2A would add a sales and use tax of 1.50%, or $1.50 on every $100 of taxable purchases, from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2029.

The same rate table shows the city's tax exempting farm equipment but not groceries, which the state and Otero County exempt, so 2A would reach groceries too if it follows the city's current base.

The question states the increase as $731,209.50 a year "AND BY SUCH AMOUNTS AS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER," so the stated figure is not a cap on what the 1.50% rate may bring in. The city's sales taxes brought in $1,923,022 in 2025, according to its audit, including $480,755 from a separate voter-approved tax for street repairs that goes to the Capital Improvement Fund. The 2026 budget counts on $1,460,000 in general fund sales tax.

The revenue would be pledged "SOLELY" to financing, operating and maintaining public safety services for the city, "INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION" the Rocky Ford police department, fire department and emergency medical services department. The named departments are examples, not a closed list.

The city could collect, retain and spend the pledged revenue "AS A VOTER APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE OF THE CITY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY REVENUE LIMITS PROVIDED BY LAW." Rocky Ford's voters already allowed the city to keep all revenue above its TABOR limits in November 1995, according to the audit, so the clause restates an approval the city holds. The approval that matters here is TABOR's requirement of a vote before any new tax. The question contains no renewal clause, so keeping the tax after 2029 would take another vote.

Rocky Ford's registered electors decide the question on Otero County's ballot. A yes vote lets the city levy the tax for three years; a no vote leaves the city's rate at 4%.