The Cortez Fire Protection District put a sales tax on the ballot in November, and it passed with 54% of voters in favor of it.
Only those within their district voted on it, as the tax only applies to them.
“I think people are confused about that. The sales tax is only going to be collected within our fire protection district, it is not a county-wide tax,” said Cortez Fire Battalion Chief Rick Spencer.
“It’ll be only collected within the 169 square miles of the Cortez fire district.”
Business-wise, that means it applies to the city of Cortez and roughly a mile radius around that, though “it is the entire district where the sales tax will be collected,” Spencer said.
The 0.54% sales tax will be effective July 1.
It excludes things like diapers, feminine hygiene products and groceries.
And it costs consumers less than a penny on the dollar; for every $100 someone spends, 50 cents will go to the Cortez Fire Protection District.
It may not seem like a lot, but it’ll add an estimated $3.3 million to the department’s budget, and make it so Cortez Fire can provide services as its call volumes rise.
To date, the department is 140 calls above the total number of calls for 2023 and sold a fire station to curb costs; “we’d be going down a completely different road right now if it didn’t pass,” Spencer said.
