Walsenburg Sales and Use Tax Increase for Law Enforcement
New tax or feeSales tax increase
Raises Walsenburg's sales and use tax from 3% to 3.5% on January 1, 2027, about $525,000 a year, to offset law enforcement costs.
City of Walsenburg
Kim's Recommendation
NO
Vote No on City of Walsenburg Ballot Issue 300
Ordinance No. 1223 pledges the new money to "offsetting" law enforcement costs, which the city already pays but cannot fully fund. Offsetting lets new dollars take the place of dollars the budget already spends on police, and the ordinance names no officer, shift or piece of equipment the tax must add. Nothing in it requires the return of the overnight coverage the police chief described ending in July.
I look for a tax question to tell voters what their money buys. This one adds a half cent with no end date and binds the council only to spending it on law enforcement costs. Voters get no service in writing to hold the council to, and I oppose the increase.
I recommend a no vote on City of Walsenburg Ballot Issue 300.
Kim Monson
Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026
Certified ballot question
SHALL THE CITY OF WALSENBURG, COLORADO SALES AND USE TAX BE INCREASED ANNUALLY BY APPROXIMATELY FIVE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FIVE-THOUSAND DOLLARS ($525,000.00) PER YEAR BY INCREASING THE SALES AND USE TAX RATE ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT (0.50%) FROM THREE (3.00) PERCENT TO A TOTAL OF THREE AND ONE-HALF (3.50) PERCENT EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2027, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OFFSETTING LAW ENFORCEMENT COSTS AND EXPENSES?
A yes vote means
Walsenburg's sales and use tax rate would rise to 3.5% on January 1, 2027.
A no vote means
The rate would stay at 3%.
Rate, Revenue and Start Date01
Walsenburg's city sales and use tax goes from 3% to 3.5% on January 1, 2027, if Ballot Issue 300 passes. The question puts the added revenue at approximately $525,000 a year and sets no end date. The City Council approved Ordinance No. 1223, which sends the question to voters, on first reading August 11, 2026.
The Colorado Department of Revenue's DR 1002 table for January 2026 lists 2.9% for the state, 3% for Huerfano County and 3% for the city, and the city's finance department gives the combined rate as 8.9%. With Ballot Issue 300's added 0.5%, the total would be 9.4%. Huerfano County Ballot Issue 1A, on the same ballot, is a property tax and leaves the sales rate unchanged.
Added tax on taxable purchases
The added 0.5% tax equals $5 for every $1,000 of taxable purchases.
Example for $1,000 in taxable purchases
$1,000 × 0.005 = $5
This is the added tax from the measure, rounded to the nearest cent, not the total tax. Actual rounding at the register may differ.
Estimated added tax
Enter a value of zero or more, with no more than two decimal places.
Huerfano County ballot, City of Walsenburg Ballot Issue 300
Purchases the State Exempts02
DR 1002 marks food for home consumption and residential gas and electricity as exempt from the state's 2.9%. It lists neither exemption for Walsenburg, so the city's rate and the added half cent apply to both. The city's use tax, at the same rate, applies to motor vehicles and building materials. Ordinance No. 1223 keeps the exemptions already in Chapter 4 of the municipal code. It also exempts cigarettes and food bought with food stamps or with funds from the special supplemental food program for women, infants and children.
Offsetting Police Costs03
The ordinance states that the city "reconstituted its police force after years of having Huerfano County provide law enforcement services" and lacks the revenue to fully fund city law enforcement. It directs that the new revenue "shall be used to offset law enforcement costs and expenses" and sets no staffing level, shift or equipment purchase. At the council's July 7 meeting, Police Chief Vinelli explained a decision to discontinue overnight police coverage from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. to save costs, the minutes show. The World Journal reported in August that this is the second time in as many years the council has asked for a sales tax increase for police.
Walsenburg's Earlier TABOR Vote04
In 1995 Walsenburg voters let the city collect and spend its full revenues "without limiting in any year the amount of revenues that may be collected and spent." The same question stated that nothing in it increased the city's mill levy or its sales and use tax rates. The city's finance department calls Walsenburg "partially debruced." Ballot Issue 300 carries no separate clause on keeping revenue above a limit. A majority of the votes cast on the question decides it.
