Pueblo West considering to be a city
Pueblo West wants to be its own city.
District officials have been conducting a study the past four months to see if it’s possible.
Pueblo West doesn’t collect any sales tax, since it is a district.
Pueblo West has about 3,000 more people than Fountain as of 2014.
Since Fountain is a city, it can collect sales tax. The city collected close to $9 million in 2015 from its 3.75 percent sales tax.
District officials said a Pueblo County marketing survey shows more than $130 million was spent in Pueblo West in retail goods and services last year.
Pueblo West Metro Board President Jerry Martin said being a city can give Pueblo West more power over its own decisions.
“We control our own destiny, rather than depending upon the county and other outside forces,” he said.
Martin said one of the issues in becoming a city is the cost of law enforcement.
“That’s an expensive adventure,” he said.
Fountain police had a budget of more than $5 million in 2015.
Even though more studying has to be done on the issue, Pueblo West Fire Chief Brian Caserta said if money can be generated by switching the district to a city, it can help build a new fire station to better serve the community.
“We are trying to build a new fire station the west side of the community to improve our response times and those additional revenues would have a direct impact on paying for the cost,” he said.
Pueblo West resident Max Chavez said he hopes to see more improvements in the district since he just moved to Pueblo West. He hopes to see more parks and activities for his kids and road improvements.
The officials said one of the key components to being a city is finding out if Pueblo West has a good tax base, which means if the district has enough businesses in the district to take the next step.
District officials hope to show their findings to the District Board of Directors by the end of this month.
The people in Pueblo West will have the final say in whether the district will become a city or not.
