Clear Creek officials consider 6.89‑mill increase after survey shows voters can be persuaded on fire and EMS funding

Clear Creek County commissioners and municipal leaders reviewed a consultant’s survey and debated final ballot language on a proposed property‑tax increase to fund the Clear Creek Fire Authority and county EMS, saying the county must decide whether to place a measure before voters this year.

Bill Ray, the pollster who presented the survey, told the Public Safety Financing meeting that his sample of 200 registered voters—interviewed July 9–16—showed 37.2% initial support for the mill‑levy question and 53.9% opposed. After respondents heard information about service impacts and staffing, Ray said, support rose to 50.6% with 40% opposed, a shift he described as “statistically a tie” within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 6.8 percentage points.

Ray said the survey was conducted from a database of roughly 4,000 active registered voters in the emergency services area. Interviews combined live telephone calls (38.5%) and text‑invited online responses (61.5%), and Ray said the firm excluded a small number of responses from outside the study boundary after they were discovered.

Why it matters: Commissioners and agency officials said current funding shortfalls threaten service levels. Aaron (EMS), representing Clear Creek EMS, described an operating deficit and staffing shortfall: he said EMS currently projects roughly a $530,000 deficit this year and that adding three paramedics to staff a third full‑time ambulance would cost about $315,000, producing what he called a multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar shortfall if new revenue is not secured.

Survey takeaways and persuasive messaging

Ray said responses were most persuadable when messaging linked preserving prompt response times, maintaining service levels, and the county’s “cardiac save” outcomes to the proposed revenue. He highlighted that messages…