Pueblo voters overwhelmingly approve extending safety sales tax

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Pueblo voters approved ballot measure 2B Tuesday, extending a sales tax that funds additional support for local law enforcement. Now, residents will continue paying an additional 0.2% in sales taxes through 2027.

According to the city, 75% of people voted to pass 2B. The tax, which brought roughly $4 million in last year, has been in place for the last five years.

The city said it expects the same amount of revenue in 2023.

According to Police Chief Chris Noeller, the Pueblo Police Department projects to spend $2.4 million to hire more than 20 new officers and pay the salaries of current officers.

A budget breakdown last week shows the salary range for sergeants who are paid from the tax is between $96,462 and $100,701. For officers, it's between $52,138 and $82,797.

Now, the department plans on increasing the starting salary for an officer by $500. On top of that, every officer is also getting a 7% pay raise in January.

Currently, Pueblo PD has 201 officers, and they hope to bring that number to 231.

Officials say the remaining money will go into the operations side of that budget, which I help the police department get new vehicles, body-worn cameras, and new computers.

City leaders say it will allow the city to help pay for police personnel and operating needs.

"Clearly, the message sent to the police department here and to the community was we're not going to defund the police," said Nick Gradisar, Mayor of the city of Pueblo.

Gradisar said it's been hard for the police department to hire officers. He hopes this tax will help incentivize more people to become officers.

"We think it's a morale booster for the police because it lets them know that the community supports them and wants to make sure that they have the resources that are necessary for them to do the job. The problem we have is attracting people who want to be police officers," said Gradisar.

According to data released by Pueblo PD, Crime has increased by 19% compared to 2021.

Graidsar believes a part of the reason there's an additional crime here in the steel city is that there are not enough police officers. But he says this ballot measure is not going to solve the crime issue altogether.

"This is not going to solve it altogether. I mean, it's a complicated issue. It's a complicated criminal justice system," said Gradisar.

Gradisar said he's going to have conversations with all sectors of the criminal justice system to make sure they're doing their part to help decrease crime here in the city of Pueblo.

"We intend to do our part to apprehend people and put them in the system. And we also intend to advocate for the system to make sure that those people who are identified as bad guys, bad people that are repeat offenders or taken out of circulation so that the rest of the community can be safe," said Gradisar.

City leaders told KRDO that they look at last year's revenue and make an educated guess on how much revenue they will receive. According to city officials, the city council will have its first reading on how the money is going to be broken up on November 14 and put it to a final vote on November 28.