CASTLE ROCK, Colorado – Castle Rock City Council members will discuss a tax increase Tuesday night that city officials say will address public safety needs.

The sales tax increase would come with what city officials called “conservative budget measures” and would allow the city to hire 40 additional public safety employees over the next five years, according to city officials who spoke to Denver7 about the proposed measure.

“Since 2022, the city has diverted funds from road maintenance to allow for the hiring of 28.75 fire and police officers instead. Now, resources are stagnant and will not be able to meet the staffing needs of the Castle Rock Fire and EMS Department and the Castle Rock Police Department over the next five years,” city officials wrote on the city’s website, explaining the reasons for the tax increase.

According to officials, the city’s fire and police budgets increased by 178% and 217%, respectively, between 2012 and 2024. In comparison, the city of Castle Rock’s sales tax increased only 159% during the same period, officials said.

City of Castle Rock

According to the authorities, this increase in sales tax would amount to 0.2%, or 0.20 cents on a $100 purchase. This would generate approximately $3.75 million in annual revenue and enable the hiring of 18 firefighters and 22 police officers.

The other budget measures mentioned earlier to raise the funds to hire the roughly 20 other public safety employees would come from deferred software purchases for customer service, municipal court, finance and other areas. It would also make an inflation adjustment to the downtown-specific sales tax fund to redirect $1.1 million in annual funds that would have otherwise been used for downtown projects but would now benefit public safety. It would also fund $2 million of the city’s promised Dawson Trails infrastructure incentive using the building use tax instead of the sales tax, allowing the sales tax collected to benefit public safety, city officials said.

In public comments over the past few months, Castle Rock residents have expressed concern about the already high cost of living due to inflation.

If the question is approved on August 20, it will be on the November ballot.

Election day is November 5th.