A plan to raise El Paso County's sales tax rate got an important endorsement from Colorado Springs leaders Tuesday, while a top county official acknowledged part of the measure could be open to a legal challenge.

A private group called Citizens for Effective Government is seeking voter approval for the new 1 percent sales tax to boost the budgets of public health and safety agencies. The tax would raise an estimated $75 million in its first year, which would be divided among the El Paso County government and the eight city governments inside the county.

Most of the money would go to the county to build facilities such as a jail expansion. The Colorado Springs City Council praised the plan Tuesday.

"That's what government in Colorado is all about," said Mayor Lionel Rivera, referring to a provision in the Colorado Constitution called the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR, which says new taxes can't be imposed without voter approval.

The vote on measure 1A is set for the Nov. 4 election.

The City Council heard from a parade of influential business and community leaders, all seeking an endorsement of the tax.

"Our city and county need the money that this measure will raise, and we needed it yesterday to adequately serve our citizens," Dave Munger, a board member of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations, told the City Council. Munger's group, known as CONO, is an umbrella organization for neighborhood groups across the city.

Mike Kazmierski, co-chairman of Citizens for Effective Government, said the measure wouldn't succeed without support from the nine-member Colorado Springs City Council. The vote was 6-1, with Councilman Darryl Glenn as the lone opponent. The vote had only a symbolic effect, as the county commissioners decided Aug. 28 to send the measure to the ballot.

Glenn noted the tax would deepen the government's reliance on sales tax, which tends to ebb and flow with the economy, and he said the current economic downturn is the wrong time to ask voters for more money.

"The citizens in this community are being pinched in every direction," he said. "Raising taxes in this economic climate, it violates every principle I have endorsed."

Councilman Jerry Heimlicher was absent, but he has previously expressed support for the tax. Councilwoman Margaret Radford didn't participate, citing her employment with the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. The department stands to receive millions more dollars annually if the measure passes.

Separately on Tuesday, El Paso County Attorney Bill Louis said a dispute over one provision of the tax measure might have to be resolved in court.
Tax-reduction activist Douglas Bruce pointed out the potential snag in a Saturday e-mail to Louis. The measure says money collected from the sales tax would be exempt from revenue limits imposed in TABOR. The exemption would apply not only to El Paso County, but also to every government that receives money from the tax.

"This is not legal," said Bruce, who wrote the TABOR amendment and led it to passage statewide in 1992. "County voters cannot give the consent of Calhan or Fountain voters, or any other jurisdiction. ... Each electorate must vote separately and specifically to exceed their revenue limit. ... If 1A passes, this legal fiction will be challenged."

Bruce has taken numerous governments to court over alleged TABOR violations.
Louis, who wrote the county's ballot measure, said Bruce might have a point.

"I think that a legitimate issue has been raised and needs to be discussed and, if necessary, litigated," Louis said. "We have lots of tools in our legal toolbox that the court can use to preserve the voters' intent."

If voters approve the measure and Bruce prevails in a legal dispute, the result could be local governments would have to refund some of the money to taxpayers. Stephannie Finley , co-chairwoman of Citizens for Effective Government, said Bruce's threat illustrates his continued drive to "destroy" city and county governments.

"It does not shock me that he would try to find any, any method that he can to try to stop us from improving our quality of life," she said. "We reject Doug Bruce's vision for this community."

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Contact the writer: 636-0187 or perry.swanson@gazette.com