PUEBLO, Colo. (KOAA) — Voters in Pueblo will decide this November whether to increase the city's sales tax. Very early on Tuesday morning, Pueblo City Council passed an ordinance to put the 1% sales tax increase question on the ballot.
For the past 50 years, the City of Pueblo has maintained the same base sales tax, but to keep up with inflation and rising costs, Mayor Heather Graham said the city's longtime sales tax needs a bump.
“It's time for the city to look at its financial forecasting,” said Mayor Graham.
Right now, the City of Pueblo currently has a base sales and use tax of 3%, which is three pennies for every dollar spent. The city has an additional .5% sales tax for economic development and a .2% sales and use tax for public safety. The total current sales and use tax rate adds up to 3.7%.
“It's our number one source of revenue,” said Mayor Graham.
Mayor Graham said the collected sales tax pays for all the services the city provides.
“So parks, roads, infrastructure, employees, buildings, building maintenance, pools, kiddie rides at City Park,” said Mayor Graham.
Now it is up to the voters to make the city's sales tax 4.7%. Mayor Graham said this increase will help combat the city's multi-million dollar budget shortfall.
“I think a big part of this 1% is people want to see roads paved. They want to see capital improvements. They want to see amenities. They want to see new sidewalks,” said Mayor Graham.
The money generated from the sales tax increase would be put in the city's general fund and be allocated by city council.
"Pueblo was just right on the cusp of growth and of bringing new businesses into the community, and if we can't keep up with beautification projects or sidewalks or streets or quality of life services, we're gonna have a really hard time attracting businesses and people to come into our community to grow our sales tax base,” said Mayor Graham.
Mayor Graham argues increasing the sales tax would help capital improvement projects and bring more economic growth to the Steel City.
“So, I think that you really have to invest in the foundation of your community if you want people to come here and to stay here and to spend their money here.”
The city is estimating this sales tax increase will generate more than $26 million each year, but again, it is up to voters to decide on that tax increase in November.
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