Courier reporter

ALAMOSA — People registered to vote in Alamosa County are going to see something on their ballot that voters in neighboring counties won’t see.

Referendum 1A is a standalone, independent referendum that’s also related to Amendment B, the Gallagher Amendment. 

Referendum 1A is, more or less, a safeguard against how Amendment B does at the ballot box.   Should the majority of voters in Colorado choose not to repeal the Gallagher Amendment, Alamosa County voters can choose – by passing Referendum 1A – to avoid the negative consequences resulting in a significant decrease in revenue to the county that was caused by changes imposed by the state.

And those consequences would, indeed, be negative.

Currently, Alamosa County has a general fund of roughly $10 million, with $3.9 million coming from residential property taxes.  According to county officials, changes imposed by Gallagher in 2021 will result in the county taking in $135,124 less in revenue.

Put in real time, real life terms, that translates into the potential loss of four full time jobs.  The loss could be felt in other areas, as well, such as a reduction in hours when residents could get their driver’s license, more potholes in county roads, less deputies on patrol, perhaps less mowing, less weed control or blight issues. 

While some of these consequences may be hypothetical, they speak to a reality that is certain:  in a county that is already operating on a tight budget, a significant decrease in revenue – generated by factors coming from other parts of the state – will result in consequences that simply can’t be avoided.  Neither can the impact of a loss of revenue on other emergency services be dismissed, such as, for example, the Alamosa County Ambulance District that was recently mentioned in a Letter to the Editor.

For this reason, at the October 14 meeting of the Alamosa County Board of County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners passed a resolution by unanimous vote affirming their support for both repealing Amendment B and passing Referendum 1A.

Two final notes for emphasis.  Referendum 1A does not call for an increase in taxes; the actual tax revenues would generated would stay roughly the same.  It also asks that, if Amendment B fails, then the county may float the mill levy to offset the loss in revenue. 

Also, should Colorado voters pass Amendment B and Gallagher be repealed, the need for Referendum 1A will no longer exist. 

However, given that both measures are being voted on in the same election, voting YES on both Amendment B and Alamosa County’s Referendum 1A is the best way to assure, as much as possible, that county coffers are not endangered.

For those who have yet to receive their ballot or to read the referendum, this is the wording that will be found on the ballot:

Without raising taxes, shall Alamosa county be authorized to adjust its mill levy annually, if after January 1, 2021, there are state imposed changes in the method of calculating assessed valuation, including a change in the percentage of actual valuation used to determine assessed valuation, so that, to the extent possible, the actual tax revenues generated by such mill levy adjustments are not less than the actual tax revenues of the prior calendar year plus the percentage of the consumer price index for the 3rd quarter of the prior calendar year, as set forth by the Colorado Office of State Planning and Budgeting, that would have been generated had such changes not occurred, as defined in the taxpayer’s bill of rights, Article X, Section 20, Paragraph 7(c) of the Colorado Constitution?