The Cortez Fire Protection District unanimously agreed Wednesday to put a sales tax on the ballot in November.
The proposed 0.54% sales tax would cost consumers less than a penny on the dollar, which works out to be just over 50 cents for every $100 spent, said Fire Chief Roy Wilkinson.
The tax cannot be on things like groceries, diapers, feminine hygiene products, prescriptions or school supplies.
If passed, it would be effective July 1, 2025.
“You know, 0.54% is a very odd number, and it’s because that is what we need,” said Wilkinson. “We just didn’t … pull a number out of the sky. That 0.54 has been calculated.”
As it stands, Cortez Fire is a quarter million dollars in debt.
With a growing population, aging equipment and some of the highest run volumes in the state, it is trying to find ways to sustain its operations now and into the future.
They already agreed to sell the station at 6892 County Road 24 at the meeting, and they’re considering selling two others.
After their property tax proposal didn’t pass on last year’s ballot, they went back to the drawing board and started looking at the areas they respond to.
The Cortez Fire Protection District spans 169 square miles. It goes all the way to the Utah border and nearly to Mesa Verde National Park, which welcomes a half-million visitors every year.
Cortez sees a lot of that traffic, and the CFPD realized they do a fair amount of runs for folks just passing through.
“The numbers were staggering,” said Wilkinson. “We realized we had a lot of visitors come through, but we did not realize the number.”
And therein lies the difference with the failed proposal last year, and the sales tax they hope passes this year.
“We went for property tax (last year), and that would have been a burden solely on those who are in the community,” said Wilkinson.
The sales tax would be for everyone – residents and visitors alike -- so the burden isn’t solely put on those in the district.
In fact, 12% of the estimated $3.3 million the sales tax could raise is expected to come from the district’s residents. Sixteen percent is expected to come from folks in Montezuma County.
The rest – over 70% – would come from visitors.
“We’re trying to keep this as minimal as possible on the community, and we’re hoping to disperse it more,” Wilkinson said.
To find these numbers, they looked at how much money Cortez and Montezuma County brings in each year, and how many residences there are.
After taking into account all non-taxable items, and shooting high, if folks spend $1,500 a month, they’d pay $97 a year in tax, Rick Spencer, the battalion chief at CFPD, said.
Still, they seek the community’s support on it.
The Cortez Fire Protection District isn’t part of the county or the city, something Wilkinson said not many people realize. They’re what’s called a special district.
“We’re an island,” said Wilkinson. “We’re not part of either, and so we do not get any funding at all from the city or the county.”
CFPD is primarily funded by a decade-old mill levy. So when the state cut property taxes, it had a negative, trickle-down effect on them.
“As those property taxes go down, so do our funds,” Wilkinson said.
This year, to compensate for this loss of revenue, the state gave CFPD $180,000.
“That was a one-year deal. We will not have that from now on,” Wilkinson said.
And that’s where the sales tax comes in.
Right now, CFPD relies on things like grants for funding. They recently applied for one that would cover the cost of replacing its 1991 water tender truck, which carries water to fires.
But fire stations across America compete for these grants.
Firehouse Subs recently opened an online portal for stations to enter to win one of 600 grants. In less than 24 hours, they’d given all the grants away.
CFPD is also funded by donations, revenue from hosting CPR classes and selling address signs, and its Wildland Division.
Though numerous, these revenue streams are not able to sustain all the district does.
In addition to responding to folks within the 169 square miles of their district, CFPD sometimes offers backup to the nearby fire protection districts of Mancos, Lewis Arriola and Dolores, as part of their mutual aid agreements.
In return, those districts do the same for CFPD in a collaborative effort to keep the community safe, Wilkinson said.
CFPD is trying to keep its firefighters safe, too, by staying up-to-date with equipment.
“Right now, every day we come to work, and we cross our fingers that nothing breaks,” Wilkinson said.
Already, they’ve put off buying new vehicles – like replacing their ladder truck from 1994 -- that will cost up to $2 million.
And though their gear is compliant with National Fire Protection Agency standards now, in a few years’ time, it won’t be.
Funds are also not sufficient for a pay raise that would attract certified firefighters to the area.
“We have a limited group who will come here. They will go to other fire departments because they pay better,” Wilkinson said.
Cortez competes with Durango, Farmington and Grand Junction for firefighters, and often loses out because they pay anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 more, depending on the position.
“We can’t compete with them,” Wilkinson said.
Thus, Cortez is becoming what Wilkinson called a “training ground.”
“We get someone here, they train, and then they go somewhere else that’s paying better,” he said.
Staffing at the fire district is minimal. It operates with two volunteers, nine part-time and 12 total firefighters, divvyed up into three shifts and two battalions. On any given shift, there are four firefighters.
For the size of houses in Cortez, to respond to a fire properly, they ought to send 16 or 17 firefighters, according to the NFPA.
“We, right now, have four people. We’re sending out, to a house fire, a quarter of those that the NFPA standard states that we should be sending,” Wilkinson said.
To try and get closer to meeting these standards, CFPD applied for another grant to get money to fund a larger staff.
“We’re still keeping everybody safe, but we are looking at less costs of doing that,” Wilkinson said.
CFPD is down to the bare bones with how we can save, he said.
“We don’t want to cut services, that’s the last thing we want to do,” said Wilkinson. “We are community-oriented, we are here for the community. We are asking for the community’s help. We’re in dire straits.”
