KSJd Local Newscast - November 6, 2024

Montezuma County voters were generous to the Cortez Fire Protection District and two school districts on Election Day. However, they were stingy with the sheriff’s office. Voters passed by a 55 to 45 percent margin a ballot question that will give a roughly half-cent sales tax to the fire district. Voters in Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 gave a nod to a mill-levy override of 3.9 mills that will provide more funding for teachers and paraprofessionals, while Dolores School District Re-4A overwhelmingly approved a measure to extend an existing mill levy for eight more years. But county voters gave a thumbs-down to a 1-cent sales tax that would have raised some $8 million a year to fund the sheriff’s office, detention center, and drug task force. The vote was 56 to 44 percent. Over the years, voters have rejected multiple questions that would have given the county a sales tax. Montezuma County is one of just a handful of counties in the entire state that has no sales tax of its own. The decision leaves the revenue-strapped county in a tough position. The county commissioners continued a recent hearing on a $240,000 supplemental budget request for the sheriff’s office. County officials accused Sheriff Steve Nowlin of spending irresponsibly, while he has consistently maintained that his office and the detention center are already under-staffed and it is difficult to retain employees because the pay and benefits are so low.