Ballot Issue 1A, which was proposed to help provide funding to the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Task Force and Montezuma County Jail, did not pass, according to unofficial results available at 9 p.m. on Nov. 5.
In the county, 44.26% of voters were in favor of the tax, whereas 55.74% voted against it according to unofficial results.
According to the ballot language, the issue, if passed, would have raised sales tax in the county by $8,123,002 in 2025, as well as a 1% sales tax increase. The money obtained from the sales tax will then be used to fund capital expenditures and operating costs for these organizations.
“It cannot be used for anything else,” according to Undersheriff Tyson Cox. “It can only go to the Sheriff’s Office for patrol operations, jail operation and the drug task force.”
One of the reasons that the sales tax was proposed over any other kind of tax was for tourists to be able to pitch in on funding the sheriff’s office, as emergency calls increase by a substantial amount during tourist season.
“There’s multiple times a year that we’re out looking for lost hikers or hunters, and we expend a lot of resources and capital and overtime,” Cox said. “And another big problem is that we’re seeing huge swings in our crime rate. The narcotics problem here is fueling increases in property crime and person’s crime. We’re also seeing auto theft and huge raises across the board in our calls for service, and we’re having to do it with less people.”
Last year, the office that can only staff about three officers per shift dealt with around 20,000 calls last year. These calls, Cox said, are becoming “far more aggressive and violent.”
Compared with neighboring counties, including Montrose, the pay is alarmingly lower.
Montrose starts pay around $88,000, Cox said, while Montezuma County starts officers at $52,000 per year.
“We’re the lowest-paid agency in the Four Corners, and I’m talking basically about Farmington to Montrose and everything in between,” Cox said. “Until we become competitive, it’s going to be extremely difficult to sustain what we have going on right now.”
Cox added that the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners said they may have a second consecutive year of budget cuts in 2025.
“The county is not generating the revenue that it traditionally did, and we have to seek another source of revenue,” Cox said. “And what the commissioners have said is, ‘Unfortunately, if this tax does not pass, there will be more cuts next year.’”
The tax will also help combat the rising drug trafficking crime seen in the county.
“We have had two large, federal drug trafficking investigations originate out of Montezuma County, and that means the drug traffickers are getting a strong foothold in our community,” Cox said. “We just need to have the resources to combine that.”
Sheriff Steve Nowlin also spoke with The Journal about the cuts earlier this year, saying that the 2024 Montezuma County budget for the Sheriff’s Office is $1,884,747, a 20.91% decrease from $2,383,250 in 2023 and a 27.3% decrease from $2,593,868 in 2022.
A 2024 budget of $57,869,814 was approved, compared with a 2023 budget of $58,677,923, a decrease of 1.377%.
Pre trial spending was also halted, among other cuts and changes.
