Half-cent sales tax renewal lies in hands of Pueblo voters

Voters will decide in November whether to renew the half-cent sales tax spent on jobs.

Pueblo City Council unanimously voted Monday night to send the question to the voters.

City Council President Steve Nawrocki said he measures the success of the tax by the number of jobs created. Since 2011, the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) has helped bring 541 jobs to the city.

“It’s good that you bring 20 jobs — 200 jobs. What it really brings is three or four times that many people with each individual that comes in. Each one of those people buy shoes, they buy clothes, they buy food,” said Councilman Bob Schilling.

When companies receive financial incentives to move to Pueblo, many make commitments to invest millions of dollars in the community. So far this year, for instance, three companies have promised to commit a total of $92 million to Pueblo’s economy.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 found that despite the investments made in recent years, the wealth in the community has barely increased. In 2009, the per capita income for metropolitan Pueblo County was $31,613. It was at $33,616 in 2013. Conversely, the per capita income for the city of Pueblo was $20,042 in 2013, according to information provided by the city.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 asked Nawrocki why the per capita income hasn’t seen a bigger increase.

“When you’ve got 20 percent of your population that lives in poverty, and then also you have a very large segment of seniors that are retired, that are on fixed income, they see no growth in their pay,” Nawrocki said.

Schilling said, “The more jobs we bring here, the higher that number’s going to go. And the critics — God love them. Let us do our job and let us move Pueblo forward.”

If voters renew the half-cent sales tax, it would expire Dec. 31, 2021.