Wheat Ridge proposes 1% sales tax increase for November ballot to fund new city hall, police department
WHEAT RIDGE — JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Wheat Ridge City Council has approved placing a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot, a move that could generate an estimated $11.5 million in its first year.
Mayor Korey Stites said the proposal is the result of years of community outreach.
"The one 1% sales tax is kind of a culmination of years of reaching out to our community and our city plan, our economic development plans, our even our internal building use assessments," Stites said.
If approved by voters, the revenue would fund several projects, including preserving soccer fields and parks at Wilmore-Davis and Kullerstrand elementaries, which are both now closed. It would also fund replacing the Anderson Park outdoor pool, and constructing a new city hall and police department on the former Lutheran Hospital property.
"Our facilities don't allow for our staff to even be under the same roof right now. We have city facilities spread out across the city, and we want to get it all unde…