Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District Sales Tax

Ballot Issue 6B asks voters for a Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District sales tax of 0.55%, or 55 cents on each $100, on sales the state taxes in the district, except groceries and other exempt items. The district levies no sales tax now. The ballot counts the first full fiscal year from January 1, 2027; no end date appears in 6B. The ballot prints the first-year increase as "$2,300,000 MILLION," which does not state a clear dollar amount. After the first year, the question sets no dollar amount, only the 0.55% rate.

The Basalt & Rural Fire Protection District's Ballot Issue 7A, on the same Pitkin County ballot, puts the same wording and the same 0.55% rate to the voters of that district, with "$1,518,000 MILLION" as its first-year figure. Members of both districts' boards sit on the board of the Roaring Fork Fire Rescue Authority. Each question taxes transactions only in the district that asks it.

The question lists the uses: a year-round wildland fire division; hazardous fuels reduction and wildfire mitigation projects; fire suppression, emergency medical, rescue and emergency response capabilities; related equipment, apparatus and facilities; and the operating, maintenance, personnel and capital improvement costs that go with them. The question's stated purpose is providing "fire protection and emergency services as service demands increase"; the list follows "including but not limited to," so it names uses within that purpose without confining the money to them.

At the two boards' July 7 joint meeting, Chief Thompson said the proposed expansion includes 15 new employees to support large-scale fuel reduction projects. The finance director told the boards that without the sales tax, reserves would need to be used and additional staffing could not be supported. TischlerBise, the districts' consultant, estimated that a 0.55% tax in both districts would generate approximately $3.5 million combined. On July 21, the finance director reminded the authority board that if the measure does not pass, another election may be scheduled for May.

In the July 7 motion that approved the 0.55% rate for the November ballot, the Snowmass-Wildcat board also voted to let a dedicated property tax in Snowmass Village sunset. The authority's April 21 minutes list that tax at $651,000 and describe it as expiring soon, and all three cost scenarios in those minutes, at tax rates of 0.47%, 0.80% and 1.10%, counted the $651,000 among the costs a sales tax would cover. The sunset is not part of 6B.

Under the question's last clause, the district may collect, retain and spend all its revenues, not only the sales tax, "notwithstanding any revenue limits provided by law." The authority board's August 18 minutes record that Chief Thompson said, for the Snowmass and Basalt ballot question, "they will overstate revenues to avoid a Tabor refund."