Clear Creek commissioners send mill-levy increase for fire and EMS to voters after brief debate

The Board of County Commissioners, sitting as the Emergency Services General Improvement District (ESGID) board, voted Sept. 2 to place a property-tax measure on the Nov. 4 coordinated ballot asking voters to set the districtmill rate at 11.459 mills to support Clear Creek Fire Authority and Clear Creek EMS.

Why it matters: county leaders said a decade-long drop in property-tax revenue for parts of the county, sharply higher capital costs for trucks and medical equipment, declining volunteer firefighters and a surge in medical calls tied to a growing elderly population and millions of annual visitors have combined to create a structural shortfall in emergency services funding.

Interim County Manager Colton told the board the EMS fund, now supported primarily by a 0.65-cent sales tax approved in 2019, is running an operating deficit: "We are currently facing a $500,000 operating deficit out of that fund," Colton said during the presentation. He said the EMS fund balance stood at about $200,000 and that the county would otherwise have to shift…