{"id":13285,"date":"2026-02-25T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-the-only-thing-to-do-cortez-sales-tax-holiday-faces-questions-but-passes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:36:28","slug":"its-the-only-thing-to-do-cortez-sales-tax-holiday-faces-questions-but-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-the-only-thing-to-do-cortez-sales-tax-holiday-faces-questions-but-passes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s the only thing to do\u2019: Cortez sales tax holiday faces questions but passes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Cortez City Council reviews an ordinance temporarily reducing city sales tax to zero percent before approving it on final reading. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez residents on Tuesday pressed city officials for alternatives to the tax over\u2011collection and for clarity on which purchases will be exempt during the sales tax holiday.<\/p>\n

During the City Council meeting, community members asked about potential solutions for returning the $2.8 million in overcollected taxes and how the temporary suspension of the city sales tax will affect businesses and shoppers. The overcollection occurred after City Council failed to enact a voter\u2011approved reduction of the recreation center sales tax, which left shoppers paying an inflated rate from 2021 to 2025.<\/p>\n

Director of Finance Randy Bailey told residents that the refund process is complex and will require businesses to adjust the city sales tax rate twice: to 0% on Oct. 18 and back to 3.85% on Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, this is a pretty complicated process,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIf you think about it, we\u2019re going to make two major changes in the fourth quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current aggregate sales tax is 7.69%. With the temporary elimination of the city\u2019s portion, the rate will drop to 3.84% for the rest of the year. Bailey said businesses will need to change point\u2011of\u2011sale systems and tax settings twice to comply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully recognize that this is a burden upon our businesses, and we thank them for their patience and willingness to work with us,\u201d said City Manager Drew Sanders. \u201cThe burden may be compensated somewhat during the holiday season hopefully with some increased sales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders has previously described the timing of the sales tax pause as a benefit for residents. With tourism slowing in the fall and the holiday shopping season approaching, he said the refund period should help local shoppers most.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor every $10 spent, that will equate to 38 cents saved and for every $100: $3.85, and for $1000: $38.50,\u201d Sanders said during the financial impact presentation.<\/p>\n

However, not everyone was satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am all for sales tax reductions. I\u2019m not as convinced that it\u2019s going to affect our community as much as it is maybe being presented,\u201d said Morgan Head, the treasurer for the Montezuma Cortez Softball Association. She and other members of kids\u2019 softball and baseball activities in Cortez attended the last City Council meeting on Feb. 10 to advocate for renovations on the failing South Softball Complex<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Head asked why the overcollected revenue couldn\u2019t be directed to the complex. City Council candidate Charles P. Borchini Jr., who faced questions about the historical association of his business name<\/a> \u201cWork Brings Freedom LLC\u201d to Nazi concentration camps from KSJD, also took the stand during public comment to ask the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thinking the same way you were. However, when we got with the TABOR attorney, he goes \u2018Oh, no, no, no, we cannot do that,\u2019\u201d said council member Dennis Spruell. \u201c\u2029That\u2019s why it wasn\u2019t done. It\u2019s not because we didn\u2019t want to; it\u2019s because we couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights regulates the revenue the state and local governments can keep and requires refunds when revenue exceeds the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the problems with an overcollection is if you don\u2019t refund it and fairly quickly, the public has the right to sue the city under TABOR,\u201d said City Attorney Patrick Coleman.<\/p>\n

City Council candidate Carly Wolf, co\u2011owner of The Doobie Sisters Recreational Dispensaries, asked whether the sales tax holiday would apply to marijuana purchases. Sanders said it would and asked Bailey to address additional questions about which grocery items and other goods are taxed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe basically tax tangible goods. That doesn\u2019t necessarily translate to all grocery items,\u201d Bailey said. He offered to compile a detailed list of taxable items for City Council after reviewing the city\u2019s tax code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will, as soon as we can, nail down every specific step of those mechanics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bailey added that business owners with questions should contact him or Finance Assistant Sara Coffey at the Finance Department at (970) 565\u20113402.<\/p>\n

The Finance Department is working on public outreach and implementation planning ahead of the October start date.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be working with businesses between now and October,\u201d Sanders said in a follow\u2011up phone call to The Journal. \u201cBusinesses just need to wait and we will be in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ordinance passed unanimously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only the right thing to do, it\u2019s the only thing to do,\u201d council member Bill Lewis said.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community members wondered how the pause would affect businesses and asked why overcollected taxes couldn\u2019t fund city projects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18901,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285\/revisions\/18901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13285"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}