46% of Cimarron Hills voters already support a 1% sales tax to fund emergency services for the district.  We need your help to continue educating our community about how a sales tax would help shift the sole burden of funding our Fire & EMS services off of our homeowners/local renters and provide necessary funding to increase staffing, replace aging fire apparatus & equipment, and complete renovations to our 50-year old fire station.

WANT TO HELP or just have questions?   Great! We want to hear from you.  We will be holding community meetings in early 2025.  Submit your contact information below, and we will be in touch!

A BRIEF BACKGROUND

Over the last few years, in an effort to provide tax relief to its citizens, the State has been focused on reducing property tax.  But this same relief to homeowners is negatively impacting special fire districts like ours that rely on Property Tax as their primary source of sustainable funding.  The cost of fire apparatus and equipment continues to rise exponentially, and fire districts must stay competitive with pay and benefits to attract and retain highly skilled emergency responders.  

In a late 2023 legislative session, Governor Polis signed a bill allowing Special Fire Districts to implement a sales tax within their district boundaries as a diversified source of funding that could go into effect as early as July 1, 2025, subject to approval by their district voters.  The biggest difference between PROPERTY tax and SALES tax is that sales tax is paid by EVERYONE who makes financial transactions within the district.  Currently, property owners shoulder the full burden of funding Fire/EMS services for anyone who needs it in the district, to include those visiting or passing through on our main traffic arteries such as Powers Blvd, Hwy 24, Hwy 94, Marksheffel, and Constitution.  And we can be fairly certain that property taxes get passed on in local rent prices, so they are paying for our visitors too.

For us, a SALES tax is a win-win scenario.  Our commercial district is primarly warehouse and manufacturing, so those conducting business here don't typically live within our district.  We don't have any big box or grocery stores, so a sales tax would pose minimal impact to our residents.   While we are starting to see some growth with fast food establishments, a 1% additional tax on purchases at these businesses would still be lower than the tax on the same purchase you make today across the street inside the city limits.

A SALES tax would allow our Board of Directors to effectively shift part of the property tax burden off the homeowners and spread it more fairly across everyone who conducts business within our borders.  The additional funds generated would allow the district to increase staffing and reduce response times to meet increasing back-to-back and overlapping call loads, replace 15-20 year old apparatus and aging equipment, and make needed renovations to our 50 year old fire station, all without having to increase our property tax mill levy or seek a bond (an additional tax to our citizens) to fund a loan for new apparatus/equipment.