Sales and use tax for county ambulance service

Sedgwick County Ballot Issue 1A asks for a four-year sales and use tax and for permission, with no end year, to keep revenue from that tax and the county's property tax levy above the TABOR limit. The first part levies a 1% countywide sales and use tax that ends four years after it takes effect. As an example, at 1%, $100 of taxable purchases in Sedgwick County adds $1. Under the commissioners' Resolution 2026-010, the tax begins January 1, 2027, if voters approve it. The ballot estimates the first-year increase at $467,000. If Issue 1A passes, the resolution says it cannot be repealed or amended except by a board resolution that the county's electors approve.

The resolution credits all revenue from the new tax, after vendor fees, collection costs and refunds, to the Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Services Fund for the ambulance service the county owns and operates. None of it goes to the towns. The sales tax applies to retail sales and to services taxable under state law; the use tax applies to construction and building materials and to vehicles that must be registered.

The second part lets the county receive, retain and spend all revenue and investment income from the new tax "AND ITS MILL LEVY" in 2027 and every later year, "WITHOUT LIMITATION OR CONDITION" under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, or any other law. Section 4 of the resolution also says revenue from the new tax and the county's mill levy, including investment income, may be collected and retained within the Emergency Medical Services Fund and spent as the resolution provides. The mill levy is the county's property tax. The question sets no new mill rate, and the retention covers those two sources, not all county revenue.

At the first of three public meetings in August, ambulance representatives and county leaders said the service faced a budget deficit of around $400,000 and that insurance programs like Medicaid pay only fractions on the dollar, the Julesburg Advocate reported. Without a new source of income, the paper reported, the county would be forced to cut wages, which leaders warned would cause staff to leave and ultimately end local ambulance service. At an August work session, county figures put a 1% tax at about $467,000 a year and a 3/4% tax at around $350,000. The commissioners said they wanted the lowest rate that met their $300,000 goal and discussed aiming for 3/4%. The resolution's tax sections and the ballot title they adopted set the rate at 1%. Officials said they chose a sales tax over a property tax so the cost would not fall solely on local property owners and so visitors traveling through the county would help pay.