Grand Junction unveils revamped city update, engagement plan and refreshed sales‑tax reporting

City communications and finance staff briefed the Grand Junction City Council on Jan. 26 about a refreshed public-engagement strategy and a redesigned sales-tax report intended to make operational outcomes more accessible to residents and council.

Kelsey Coleman, communications and engagement manager, said staff developed a new city update format with three quick 'pillars' for readers, and plans to centralize materials in a City News Hub on the city website. Coleman said 44 engagements are planned for 2026 (not including project-specific events and CRC celebrations), including town halls, district-specific meetings, volunteer days and school partnerships called City Explorers.

Coleman outlined distribution tactics intended to broaden reach: utility-bill inserts (reaching roughly 40,000 households), Parks & Recreation newsletters (about 20,000), social media, press releases, partner networks, school-district channels and targeted outreach to underrepresented groups. She also described a strategy for short weekly messages (“Mike’s Monday Minute”) and district-level engagements.

Finance staff presented a refreshed sales- and lodging-tax report that reorganizes year-to-date data by business classification (NAICS), tax district and revenue type (sales, use, lodging, cannabis). The finance presentation explained accrual timing (January collections reflect December sales activity) and noted that roughly 25% of the city’s sales-tax receipts come from economic-nexus collections (out-of-area sellers who sell to Grand Junction customers).

Council members responded positively to the focus on clearer public-facing content and asked for calendar visibility of engagement events and accessible links to the sales-tax team.

Staff said the new city update and reporting formats are a work in progress; departments will continue to refine data and distribution.