Fremont County’s voter turnout for Tuesday’s General Election was nearly 64 percent. According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s website, 19,979 ballots were cast by the county’s 31,091 registered voters.
The Secretary of State reports that of the Fremont County ballots turned in, 9,637 were from Republicans, 6,056 were unaffiliated and 3,982 were from Democrats. Other ballots received include 83 from the American Constitution Party voters, 49 from the Green party, 168 from Libertarians and four were from the Unity party.
Here are unofficial results on some local issues:
Ballot question 6B – Cañon City Area Fire Protection District
Just as local firefighters are there for citizens every single day, Cañon City residents turned out for their first responders Tuesday.
The Cañon City Area Fire Protection District’s question 6B asked the community for its support so it can maintain operations and have a stopgap in place to meet revenue streams during a downturn.
Sixty-one percent of voters were in favor of allowing the fire district to collect an additional $165,232 next year, primarily to fund the addition of two firefighters. The question also asked voters to allow the district to annually adjust the mill rate not to exceed 12 mills to offset losses in revenue as a result of decreases in the residential assessment rate.
Cañon City Fire Chief David DelVecchio said he would have liked to have seen a higher percentage of voters in favor of the question, but he understands citizens’ apprehension to any type of tax issue.
“My job, in conjunction with being the fire chief, is to actually prove to the people that did not vote to support this that what we are going to do with the monies that we are going to receive and how we are going to manage the district going forward is in their best interest, as well,” he said. “We are a whole-community-focused and driven organization, we don’t segregate our services in any way to any different people within the community. We are in it for the long haul and we are in for everybody that lives in the fire district.”
Voters in 2014 supported a question to help make up for five years of declining revenues while costs and call volume continued to increase. Voters approved the increase of 4.67 mills, bringing the current mill rate to 17.67, but the residential assessment rate, which is part of the Gallagher Amendment, was changed in 2017 and took effect in 2018 tax collections, pretty much negated the mill rate increase.
The district’s revenue stream was reduced by nearly $200,000 in 2018 because the assessment dropped about 10 percent in appreciation of housing values.
Tim Payne, the vice-president of the Cañon City Area Fire Protection District Board of Directors, said the board wishes to thank the community for their support of 6B.
“We will continue to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and of the additional revenue entrusted to us,” he said. “As we move forward, we will continue to work with a state-level solution to the Gallagher Amendment.”
Ballot Issue 2A – Lodging Tax
For the second consecutive year, voters said no to boosting the lodging tax rate from two to five percent for those staying in short-term lodging facilities, such as motels, hotels and campgrounds.
Fifty-two percent of voters turned down the issue Tuesday, the same percentage as those who said no in 2017.
Dennis Wied, a member of 2A’s Tourism Group to Increase Funding and former longtime Cañon City Council member, said he was disappointed by the voter response, but he said there are two possible explanations as to why voters turned down a tax that they won’t even have to pay.
“Either it just wasn’t understood what a lodging tax is and who pays it, or maybe people are more informed than I think and they simply don’t want tourism here,” he said. “Maybe they aren’t interested in growing the area, they live here and they don’t want things to change, they don’t want more people to come visit, they are happy paying taxes and they are happy with the way the economy is here, and the potential for additional revenue from outside sources isn’t attractive.”
Ballot Issue 2A’s tax hike was projected to generate $300,000 in revenue for marketing and promotions in its first year, with the city, setting aside matching funds. With additional county taxes, it was estimated that the marketing operating budget, which would have been managed by the Royal Gorge Regional Tourism Council, would hover at about $700,000. By comparison, total lodging tax collections for Fremont County in 2017 were around just $220,000.
Wied said the FCTC will continue to exist and continue to manage the funds raised by the current lodging tax, and the RGRTC will continue to exist unless it is disbanded by the city council.
Mayor Preston Troutman said the city council will decide what the next steps are before the 2019 budget is approved.
He said he also was surprised that the question failed.
“I don’t think we ever thought it wouldn’t pass,” he said. “It’s a tax that doesn’t cost (local residents) anything. And everywhere you go, you end up paying a facility fee or tourism fee when you spend the night — we are getting our butt kicked by Salida and Buena Vista, but they are spending close to a million dollars a year because of their taxes.”
Wied said he seriously doubts if another such effort will move forward again.
“Me personally, I’ll keep doing what I do and I know that those of us in the tourism industry will continue to promote the area,” he said.
Wied said he would like to know the reasons why people voted against it.
“I absolutely am baffled,” he said. “I don’t understand what the opposition was.”
Fremont County 1A, Cañon City 2B and Florence 2C – Broadband services
Voters in Cañon City, Florence and Fremont County approved a question that will allow them to opt out of SB 152 so local governments can compete for grant money and work in public-private partnerships to bring the infrastructure necessary for broadband services.
Cañon City and Fremont County each passed the question with 73 percent in favor, and Florence had 83 percent in favor.
SB 152 states that local governments can not be involved in providing broadband services or other similar types of services to their citizens.
Rob Brown, the executive director for Fremont Economic Development Corp., thanks the voters in Fremont County for returning control of the broadband issue to the community.
“Our community has cleared the way for local government to pursue a wide variety of local broadband initiatives including public/private partnerships and grants specifically designed to improve connectivity in rural communities,” he said. “Opting out of SB152 will help our community attract new private sector service providers and potentially support the existing providers by enhancing local broadband infrastructure.”
Carie Canterbury: 719-276-7643, canterburyc@canoncitydailyrecord.com