El Paso County voters will soon get to decide how much their
county government services are worth to them.
The El Paso County commissioners finalized two budget options
reflecting the effects of a 1 percent sales tax increase on county
services.
The majority of the tax increase would go towards public safety
but the vote will affect most county departments.
The group proposing the initiative estimates that the new tax
will bring in around $75 million in county revenue the first
year.
The largest revenues will go to the public health and safety
departments. The sheriff’s office will receive about $12 million of
the new funds but will have to cut more than a million if it does
not pass.
The district attorney’s office, department of human services,
coroner and health department will all share in the new
revenues.
District 1 County Commissioner Wayne Williams said that
concerning cuts will have to be made to the public safety
departments if the initiative fails.
“For the past few years we have shielded law enforcement from
the budget cuts that we’ve made. We have now reached a stage where
we can no longer do that,” he said.
Williams said that without the new tax, sheriff response times
will go up and investigatory abilities will decrease.
“As you continue to add workload, at some point we are not going
to be able to respond in a timely matter or they won’t have time to
investigate. Some criminals will get off free, and some criminals
will not be caught, and it means the chances of us doing something
wrong in a child abuse situation increases as well. It is
ultimately up to the people to make a decision as to what level of
government they want.”
Citizens for Cost-Effective Government, a group opposing the
sales tax initiative and some democratic hopefuls for county
commissioner seats have said that the tax unfairly targets
low-income residents.
Citizens for Effective Government, the group that created the
initiative, have responded by advertising that the tax does not
include necessities like food, prescription drugs and fuel. They
also said that the 1-cent sales tax increase will make El Paso
County a more desirable place to do business.
For more information on the proposed budgets, visit http://adm.elpasoco.com/Financial_Services/Finance_and_Budget.
BREAKOUT: (MUST GO IN)
The following is the estimated amount of increase that each
county department will see if the tax increase passes compared to a
2009 budget without the new tax:
Administrative Services $47,039
Administrative Support $39, 957
Board of Equalization $2,108
Security $64,726
Environmental Services $165,516
Facilities Management $335,923
Parks and Recreation $253,432
CSU Extension Office $16,627
Justice Service $343,528
Procurement and Contracts $20,252
Employment Service $32,799
Information Technologies $310,406
County Attorney $32,606
Clerk and Recorder $338,072
Coroner $439,398
District Attorney $1,567,101
Sheriff’s Office $10,570,220
Department of Human Services $1,615,895
Health Department Support $4,696,052