Basalt voters back a 0.5 percent sales tax for a combined police and public works facility

Basalt has voted to tax itself for a new home for its police officers and public works crews. The Town of Basalt announced on Nov. 4 that unofficial results for Ballot Issue 3A, counted across Eagle and Pitkin counties, show the measure passing with 51.4 percent of voters in favor. The town reported 971 affirmative votes out of 1,888 cast in the two counties combined. The margin is 54 votes, and the count is not yet final. Basalt sits in both counties, so neither county's tally alone decides the question.

The results remain unofficial until the canvass and certification process is complete; the town notes that Nov. 25 is the certification deadline. Eagle County will conduct its post-election risk-limiting audit starting Nov. 17, when bipartisan election judges hand audit paper ballots before the official canvass certifies the results.

What the tax does

Ballot Issue 3A increases the town's sales tax by 0.5 percent, half a cent on every dollar of taxable purchases, effective Jan. 1, 2027. The ballot language caps the increase at not more than 1.7 million dollars in the first full fiscal year, 2027, and limits the tax to a period not to exceed 20 years. The ballot language restricts the revenues to public services facilities and their related infrastructure and equipment: acquiring and planning them, building them, and operating, maintaining, repairing and replacing them.

The town has tied its own hands on the revenue in two ways. The tax is dedicated to the Public Services Facility alone, and it is subject to annual independent audits published on the town's website. And the town says it sunsets, ending after 20 years or when the financing for the project is paid off.

The building it would pay for

The facility would combine parcels at 20522 and 20526 Highway 82, where the town would keep the existing Public Works building, at 4,320 square feet. The new building proposed for the site, at approximately 17,891 square feet, would hold Public Works administrative offices, vehicle and equipment storage and maintenance areas, and Police Department offices and support spaces, with public areas and a community room.

The town's case rests on the buildings the departments use now. Police staff work in a shared building that was not designed for law enforcement, without adequate space for interviews and evidence storage. Public Works is scattered across several sites, some of them temporary structures. In April the town put the project's estimated cost at approximately 25 million dollars, with 7 million dollars in reserves identified and the remaining 18 million dollars to be financed over time, and the council approved a design and entitlement contract with Wold Architects and Engineers on Apr. 28.

What happens next

The project is still in planning and conceptual design, a phase the town expects could be completed in the first quarter of 2027. Construction documents would follow, and the town says the project could go out to bid in the summer of 2027.

First, though, the November count has to become official: certification by Nov. 25 turns a 54 vote margin into a tax that starts on Jan. 1, 2027.