Oak Creek officials are weighing a November ballot measure that could ask voters to approve a 1% sales tax to fund either law enforcement, capital improvements or both, while also considering a separate commercial vacancy-tax aimed at empty downtown buildings. 

Town Manager Louis Fineberg told the town board of trustees at an April 9 meeting that the town must notify the state by July 1 if it wants a measure on the ballot — and that staff must begin shaping what form that measure would take.

The town board’s discussion centered on two possible uses for the 1% sales-tax measure, which would equate to roughly $180,000 annually: paying for a third deputy, or helping finance critical infrastructure work such as water and sewer line replacements. 

Fineberg said the town’s existing law enforcement budget covers two deputies, but that “every law enforcement person that I’ve spoken to about this situation thinks we need three.”  

At the same time, he said the town has a “tremendous list” of capital projects and increasingly lacks the local matching money needed to leverage grants.

Trustees also floated the idea of a sunset clause, saying a tax could be set to expire after three or five years so voters could revisit it later. 

Fineberg said the town could structure the measure however trustees want, including as separate ballot questions. He recommended splitting law enforcement and capital improvements into two distinct measures if the board pursues both.

On whether the town should pursue a sales tax at all, board members repeatedly argued that a sales tax would spread the burden beyond local property owners and businesses to visitors and other customers passing through town. 

“We are on the heels of multiple years of ballot measures increasing taxes in South Routt. It’s the medical center, it’s the school district, it’s whatever it is,” said Trustee Bernard Gagne, who said that his property tax has tripled in 10 years. “But those are mill levies on property tax.”

“I think both of these sales taxes are very justifiable,” he continued. “A sales tax as a way to share the tax burden with our entire communities and our entire worldspace outside of Oak Creek and everyone who stops by — I think that’s a good thing, and more sellable to the public.”

Gagne also noted that Oak Creek has long absorbed rising costs for insurance, staffing, utilities, equipment and supplies without increasing its sales tax, underscoring the town’s status as Routt County’s lowest-taxing municipality. 

While dedicating the tax to a third deputy would address the town’s shortage of law enforcement officers, Fineberg said that dedicating the revenue to capital improvement projects would allow the town to leverage the $180,000 as a match for a more costly grant-funded project. 

Much of the board’s urgency came from the state of Oak Creek’s utilities and public works system. The town’s water treatment plant, said Fineberg, is losing 82% of its water. 

Gagne said the town can no longer afford to match even modest grants for sidewalk, bridge or planning projects, which he said shows how thin the budget has become.

Mayor Melissa Dobbins said the sales-tax discussion is really about sustainability and future service levels, not just new revenue. She said the town has seen minimal “forward momentum” on infrastructure in her six-and-a-half years in Oak Creek, framing the proposal as a way to create “skin in the game” for residents and visitors alike. 

Fineberg said the town could dedicate capital money to a yearly summer-project rhythm, such as replacing water and sewer lines.

Several trustees said any tax pitch should be tied to downtown revitalization and business support. 

Dobbins said a partnership with the Steamboat Springs Chamber is critical, and other trustees said they want the town to better market Oak Creek and encourage people traveling through to stop and spend time there. Gagne noted a “vacancy in the outreach and marketing” in the town. 

Trustee Sascha Stanger reminded his colleagues of the town’s proximity to the proposed Stagecoach Mountain Ranch development, noting that the town has “two choices” — to keep that sales-tax spending local or to watch Stagecoach customers “go down the road.” 

He added that the town needs to incentivize businesses without squeezing them further, warning that higher taxes could make it harder for small businesses to survive. 

Fineberg also raised the possibility of a commercial vacancy tax, an idea that came to him when the Steamboat Springs City Council considered — but ultimately killed — a residential vacancy-tax ballot measure last year.

“Oak Creek doesn’t have a residential vacancy problem like Steamboat does, but there’s a commercial vacancy problem here,” he said. “The idea behind a vacancy tax is, you’re going to pay to keep an empty building. If you don’t want to pay that, then put something in it or sell it.”

Fineberg noted that if the trustees were not willing to pursue that now, they would have to wait until November 2028 to get it on the ballot. Trustees quickly voiced their support. 

“The reputation in this town is another broke town just letting things fall until they crumble away,” said Stanger. 

Fineberg said he will prepare draft language for a law-enforcement tax, a capital-improvement tax and a commercial vacancy-tax for trustees to review at their May meeting. He said the board can decide whether to move ahead with one measure, two measures or none at all, but that the town will need to clearly spell out its reasons if it wants to ask voters for new revenue.

“To pump forward and to ask people to pay more when we are at an all-time high right now — that takes some guts to do, but it’s necessary and it’s just really unfortunate it hasn’t happened sooner,” said Dobbins. 

“We’re not even just low in Routt County. We’re one of the lowest (sales tax) figures statewide,” she continued. “There are really small communities with a sales tax that don’t have the demands and needs that we have.”

“So if we’re not able to do this, then I ask the board of trustees, I ask the community, to please bring forward a solution for how we’re going to manage increased costs and this big struggle that we have to face, especially with infrastructure,” Dobbins added.