MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – After the legalization of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs was left with a deficit.
Millions in recreational marijuana sales tax was lost as a unique demand only Manitou could fill disappeared. The city tried to recoup the losses in several ways, including proposing raising their excise, or “amusement” tax.
Last year, the city asked voters whether they should raise that tax from around 5% to up to 14%. This would be a tax on things like tickets to the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the Cliff Dwellings and ziplines; things that don’t utilize the city’s sales tax.
That measure failed, leading to the city making several cuts.
“We’ve cut our budget by over $1 million,” Manitou Springs Mayor Natalie Johnson said.
This November, the city is making another push, but one Mayor Johnson said is voter-informed.
On the ballot once again is the question of raising the amusement tax, but this time, to 9.03%.
That figure is identical to the city’s regular sales tax, according to the mayor.
Tourists like Polly Eppley and Jeff Laughlin, who visited Manitou Springs from Ohio, said they’re glad the previous increase of up to 14% didn’t pass.
As things stand for them, the pair said they wouldn’t be deterred if that amusement tax was increased to 9.03%, though.
“I don’t think it would deter me just because… we’re here for vacation and we’re usually pretty frugal,” Eppley said.
“We’ll spend a little more money to see different things and, you know, to get the full experience,” Laughlin added. “So, if it goes up a bit more, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
But the two said they could see larger families having a hard time affording those tourism experiences with a higher tax.
“If I was traveling with family and had to watch money a little more, possibly,” Eppley said.
On Tuesday, Ralph Routon and his citizen-led campaign, Fair Taxes for Manitou Springs, held an event to rally support for the ballot initiative.
He said he understood why the previous measure failed.
“It was a much steeper tax request, but it was also making this, the amusement tax request, solve the entire budget problem,” he said.
Routon said, while he supported the previous measure, he felt more needed to be done. With the million dollars worth of cuts the city has recent made, and with the proposal asking for less of an increase, Routon said he wants to see this measure pass.
“This is a much better solution,” he said.
Mayor Johnson said she agrees, in large part because of the threat of more cuts if it doesn’t.
“If we do in fact have a potential loss this fall, this November, we are going to still have our reserves and we’ll have to look to that. But the reserves will not be there for long,” she said.
And, ultimately, the mayor said the budget deficit is representative of a new normal for the city, meaning they need to find sustainable ways to adapt now so they can avoid being in the same situation later.
“This is how it is now,” she said. “And so we’ll never truly be able to go back to where we were a few years ago. And we just have to accept that and move on.”
The measure will be on Manitou Springs ballots this fall. Election day is November 3.
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