Clear Creek County weighs 6.89-mill ESG ID ballot measure to fund fire services, wildfire mitigation and EMS

Clear Creek County—s Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 18 discussed placing a 6.89-mill property tax increase limited to the ESG ID on the ballot to fund Clear Creek Fire Authority operations, wildfire mitigation work and Clear Creek EMS.

The board and staff spent the meeting reviewing draft ballot language, how to describe the services the new revenue would support and whether to include additional separate questions that would waive a recently enacted statutory cap on annual revenue growth (referred to in the meeting as a new 5.25% statutory growth cap). Staff said the primary ballot question would ask voters to "collect, retain and spend the full revenue" from the proposed mill increase; the board debated whether to include a separate question asking voters to waive limits on future assessed-value growth.

Why it matters: Commissioners and staff said the money is intended to shore up daily emergency response and longer-term wildfire risk reduction in the unincorporated Evergreen Service/ESG ID area. The board noted that, without language to retain new revenue and to waive statutory growth caps, the county could be limited in how quickly it realizes the full value of…