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BoCo Comissioners Add Two Tax Measures to 2025 Ballot Jack Armstrong
Headlines Wednesday August 20, 2025
BoCo Commissioners Approve Two Tax Proposals For Fall Ballot
Boulder County Commissioners are placing two sale-and-use tax proposals on the fall ballot.
The commission voted yesterday to put a .15% mental health tax proposal before voters in November. The measure would generate some fifteen million dollars in revenue a year, according to the Daily Camera, which would be used for mental health services.
The commission’s move yesterday follows their decision last week to place another sales-and-use tax proposal on the November ballot. That one, which is also a point-fifteen percent proposal, asks voters to extend the current tax that funds open spaces.
The tax is currently set to expire at the end of 2030. If voters approve the ten-year extension, the Camera says it would generate about fifteen million dollars annually for open space.
The ten year limit means there would be a chance to revisit the tax’s effectiveness once it expires.
The open space tax helps Boulder County manage open space through maintenance, acquisition, and agricultural needs.
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Wolf Reintroduction Pause Proposal
State lawmakers are expected to introduce a bill to redirect about a quarter of a million dollars in funding from Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program, to a state program that would lower health insurance costs.
The States’ Wolf reintroduction program was narrowly approved by voters back in 2020.
The bill is expected to be introduced in the special legislative session that starts tomorrow. Governor Jared Polis ordered the special session in order to find ways to address a $783 million budget deficit brought on by the federal tax bill signed into law last month.
Redirecting money from wolf reintroduction to health care has broad sponsorship. Supporters of the measure concede it would only make up for a small portion of the budget shortfall, Opponents say taking money from the wolf program will erase progress they’ve made. This is all reported by The Colorado Sun.
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Two New Colorado West Nile Deaths
Two more people in Colorado have died from the West Nile Virus.
Health officials in Fremont County, west of Pueblo, have confirmed the two deaths, although there are no details about the people who died.
The West Nile Virus deaths were reported on Monday, according to Denver7, and bring the total for this year to three. An unidentified person in Lafayette died from the virus last month. State health officials say that forty-one people in Colorado have been infected.
Most cases of West Nile are in August and September, but new cases have been reported as late as December. The West Nile season usually ends with the first freeze, when the season for mosquitoes, who carry it, comes to an end.
Public health officials say that while anyone can be infected with West Nile, high-risk groups include people over sixty, and people with pre-existing health conditions.
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Western Slope Wildfires
Eagle County officials have issued pre-evacuation warnings for people living in the northwest corner of the county. Activity of the Derby fires picked up yesterday across the 100 acres it has affected.
Officials said that people living south of the Routt County line and east of the Garfield County line should also prepare to evacuate, which also includes those in Burns and east to Eby Creek Road.
The Crosho fire, burning in Rio Blanco and Routt counties, had its evacuation lifted on Monday. The Lee fire burning west of the Crosho fire is now Colorado’s fifth largest fire on record.
The Lee fire has been steadily contained by fire fighting crews, but has already burned 137,485 acres. The fire is at 60% containment. The Elk fire is fully contained now, but officials say that spot fires are possible depending on windgusts sparking embers. Pre-evacuation orders have been lifted for the Lee fire, but the Elk fire’s orders remain active.
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Colorado EV Chargers
An initial 5 million dollars has been authorized by the Colorado Energy Office to jumpstart a lot of 56 fast-charging electric vehicle stations around the state. The Colorado Sun reported the charges will be located, “from Montrose to Limon and in between.”
State officials affirmed that the funding comes as a product of diverging state policy from the Trump administration. A move made by Trump at the start of his term was to pause a previously earmarked 5 billion dollars that would have gone to strengthen EV infrastructure around the country. States, including Colorado, won an initial injunction on the Trump administration’s pausing of those funds in June.
The state plans to continue to try and alleviate “range anxiety”, or reliable travel distance, of electric vehicles. In a news release, Energy Office chief Will Toor said, “we are undaunted and remain clear-eyed and focused on continuing to build enough public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet Colorado’s goal of supporting 940,000 light-duty EVs on Colorado roads by 2030.”
