Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas unveiled her plan Tuesday for a ballot initiative that would steer some of the sales tax revenue being collected now for use by the sheriff’s office toward local road and bridge improvements.
Thomas’s proposal would divvy up an existing 0.43 percent Douglas County Justice Center Sales and Use Tax to create a revenue stream to fund major infrastructure projects such as widening Interstate 25 south of Castle Rock.
The tax was first passed in 1995 to pay for a sorely needed justice center — including courtrooms and a jail — and related needs and was tweaked and supported by voters again in 2007. As it stands now, a 0.30 percent sales tax has been adopted in perpetuity to fund maintenance and operations at the justice center and other law enforcement facilities and 0.13 percent, allocated to pay for other law enforcement needs, sunsets in 2020.
Thomas’ plan would ask voters in November to endorse dividing that tax into portions of 0.2 percent and 0.23 percent. The first portion would stay with the sheriff’s office in perpetuity, and the latter would go to roads and bridges. The 0.23 allocation would sunset in 2035. By then, Thomas estimates it could raise $366 million for I-25 and other needs.
The proposal ran into stiff opposition Tuesday night from Sheriff Tony Spurlock, members of his command staff and a majority of residents who showed up at the county hearing room to speak. Spurlock and his staff argued that Douglas County is a safe place because of the foresight of the leaders who crafted the tax in 1995, providing for facilities such as the justice center, training center and an under-construction crime lab. Spurlock said altering the voter-approved tax now would hurt public safety. Officials indicated there are future law enforcement projects that will rely on the 0.13 percent tax that sunsets in 2020.
Tuesday’s hearing ran past 10 p.m. and was continued until 5 p.m. today in the commissioner’s hearing room at the Douglas County administration building, 100 Third St. in Castle Rock.
