Windsor-Severance Fire phased property tax increase

The Windsor-Severance Fire Protection District, which covers parts of Larimer and Weld counties, seeks in Ballot Issue 7F to raise its operating property tax in three steps: up to 1.5 mills in 2027, an additional 1.5 mills in 2031 and an additional 1 mill in 2034. The three steps total 4 mills on top of the district's current levy of 8.535 mills (the state's certified figure for tax year 2025), and the question sets no end date for them. As an example, at the full 4 mills from 2034, $100,000 of taxable assessed value pays $400 a year. A yes vote this November authorizes all three steps.

The question sets the increase at up to $44,336,787 by tax year 2034, after all three steps, and in each later year whatever additional amounts the levy raises. The TABOR notice for 7F estimates 2027 fiscal year spending without the increase at $18,723,981. The district's approved 2026 budget counts on $15,907,538 in property tax revenue out of $18,285,038 in revenues and sets personnel costs at $12,972,430.

The question limits the money to four district uses: hiring fire and emergency response personnel to meet growing needs and national minimum staffing standards; purchasing fire and emergency response apparatus and equipment; maintaining and improving current levels of fire protection and emergency services; and building an additional fire station and remodeling existing facilities.

A district fact sheet from June ties the proposal to adding 27 firefighters and 6 administrative staff over 10 years, replacing aging apparatus and building a fifth station. The fact sheet projects a budget deficit starting in 2027 without additional revenue. It puts the cost of a new fire engine at $1.2 million. The district's 2026 to 2036 staffing assessment finds 33 positions needed by 2036 to maintain the district's current service level and close gaps in it. The district's resource assessment projects that it will need Fire Station 5, at County Road 23 and Highway 392, by 2035, and the staffing plan schedules 15 firefighter/EMT hires that year to staff it.

If 7F passes, all revenue and any earnings on the tax become what the question calls a permanent voter-approved revenue change under Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The question also waives the limitations in Title 29 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and any other law.

The district board adopted the ballot language in Resolution 2026-04 on August 18, 2026, with all five directors voting yes. A SAFER WINDSOR SEVERANCE registered as an issue committee on September 11, 2026, to support the measure. The TABOR notice carries one written comment in favor and none against.