Colorado Springs and El Paso County introduce sales tax relief programs for restaurants

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- In what has been an incredibly hard year for Pikes Peak area restaurants, City and County leaders are hoping to ease the burden with a new sales tax program.

On Monday Colorado Springs and El Paso County leaders released their plan for a sales tax program that would allow restaurants to receive a rebate of up to $1,400 per month or sales tax on up to $70,000 in sales. To qualify for the program restaurants have to show they suffered greater than five percent loss from the third quarter of 2019 to 2020's third quarter.

However, the programs will cover different months of revenue. Colorado Springs' program offers refunds based on the taxes remitted on sales from November 2020, December 2020, January 2021, and February 2021. El Paso County's program offers refunds from July 2020 through February 2021.

The sales tax relief program still needs approval from the City and County. It was proposed to City Council on Tuesday and is expected to gain approval in January. The County’s version of the program could receive approval as early as this month.

While the County and City are working together on this, it is two separate programs that restaurants can apply for. The program is limited to the General Fund portion of taxes for each organization: two percent for Colorado Springs and one percent for El Paso County.

Councilmember Jill Gaebler says the program was proposed by Mayor John Suthers during a City Council meeting. “It’s a great opportunity for us to give back to our restaurants and we know is a small way but hopefully some meaningful way to them,” Gaebler says.

For Chef Franco Pisani with Paravacinin's Italian Bistro in Old Colorado City, which is not relying on take-out to stay open, he says it won't solve all of his problems but it will definitely help. However, he says more needs to happen.

“It’s a great effort but we need more we need another PPP package or some more grants or something else like that headed down the pipe,” Pisani says.

Gaebler and other Council members agree and wish they could do more but say it comes down to federal and state sources.

"We know that this is a small thing that we can do but it's the only thing really we can do," Gaebler says.