Bottom Line Up Front

SB24-194 will provide Colorado’s fire protection districts the opportunity to diversify annual revenue, which is currently singularly dependent on property taxes. 67% of all fire departments in Colorado are organized as fire protection districts (FPDs).

The Challenge: Continual Property Tax Reductions

For more than three decades, property assessments & FPD tax rates have been inconsistent and have been reduced to the point of near collapse. Many FPDs are unable to hire and maintain staffing, unable to purchase new apparatus, unable to keep personal firefighter protective equipment up-to-date and unable to handle the continued increase in emergency calls.

What SB24-194 Does:

• Provides fire protection districts diversified revenue sources that are appropriate for local conditions

• Removes specific fiscal restrictions in Title 32 on fire protection districts

• Authorizes FPDs to enact impact fees for new growth on the construction of new buildings, structures, facilities, or improvements on real property within the district’s jurisdictional boundaries utilizing a nexus study

• Authorizes FPDs the ability to levy a sales tax within any area of the district, at a rate determined by the district’s publicly elected board of directors and approved by the voters via ballot measure

• Authorizes FPDs to seek reimbursement for non-suppression services while prohibiting FPDs from charging taxpayers for responding and extinguishing a fire occurring within the district’s jurisdictional boundaries

Colorado’s Locally Funded Fire Protection Districts:

• Protect the economy of every community in Colorado

• Protect more than 2.9 million jobs in Colorado

• Protect the lives, property, and well-being of our state’s 5.9 million citizens

• Protect more than 84 million annual visitors who come to Colorado each year

• Respond to every human-caused and natural disaster...from day-to-day emergencies to the increasing numbers of catastrophic incidents

• Protect Colorado’s natural resources, our forests, and the quality of our air and water

• Protect our state’s critical infrastructure

• Protect the national critical infrastructure located in Colorado

• Serve as the “calvary” as local fire apparatus and firefighters respond to the request of the State of Colorado whenever and wherever major fires and incidents occur across Colorado

What SB24-194 Does NOT Do:

• Does not allow a fire protection district to bill district taxpayers for fire response and extinguishment

• Does not allow a fire protection district to impose a sales tax without board and voter approval

• Does not require fire protection districts to make changes they don’t want or need

For more information, contact:

Amanda Gall / amanda@meridianaffairs.com / (720) 474-8885

Adeline Hodge / adeline@meridianaffairs.com / (508) 221-4623