Pitkin County commissioners coalesce around real estate transfer fee, keep sustainable aviation fuel on list for CCI priorities

Pitkin County commissioners on July 15 discussed potential Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI) legislative priorities and directed staff to submit several county proposals by the CCI deadline later that week.

The board agreed to continue advocating for a real estate transfer fee (RETT) as a Pitkin County priority, keep the county’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) proposal active, and to take a less-prominent item — a legislative study into replacing or supplementing sales tax with a service tax — forward to CCI for consideration. Management analyst Levi Borsch (introduced in the meeting) said he could submit two proposals immediately and asked for language for a third by the end of the week; he told the board the CCI online submission form was due that Friday.

The items discussed were framed against a long CCI calendar Borsch reviewed: a brainstorming submission due by July 18, a legislative issues week in late July, the Mountain District meeting on Aug. 21 and a CCI steering committee meeting on Sept. 19 that would begin sponsor outreach. Borsch also summarized survey results from counties and commissioners acting together (CCAP), which highlighted revenue diversification and TABOR reform among membership priorities.

Board members weighed other potential priorities the group had heard previously: a proposal to move a roughly $3.2 million federal library subsidy to state funding; possible legislative authority for a nexus-based RETT rather than a statewide referral measure; and requests to pause or alter future wolf reintroduction plans. Commissioners expressed differing views on scope and capacity: some said the county should stick with RETT and SAF while staff and partners pursue larger items (such as TABOR reform) at broader coalition scale.

Several commissioners urged prioritizing basic budget issues tied to the state’s fiscal outlook — including Medicaid and other social-service funding — over smaller, narrower proposals. Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Curry advocated maintaining RETT as a top county priority. Commissioner Jeffrey Woodruff encouraged keeping the SAF item on the list so the county could “keep pounding the table” for it, even though he acknowledged limited near-term prospects. Commissioner Greg Poshman suggested asking the legislature to study a service tax as a longer-term revenue diversification strategy; Borsch said he would draft language for a study proposal if the board endorsed it.

No formal vote was taken. Instead, staff received board direction to: (1) submit Pitkin County’s RETT priority to CCI, (2) include the county’s SAF proposal as a possible priority, and (3) draft and submit language for a requested legislative study on taxing services. Borsch said he would file the submissions before the Friday deadline and would confirm whether the county was limited in the number of proposals it could submit.