EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported all six candidates for Palmer Lake Town Council were voted into office. Only four candidates, Sam Padgett, Karen Stuth, Jessica Farr and Nicole Currier, were voted into office.

Voters in Monument on Tuesday struck down a ballot question that would have increased the town’s sales and use tax from 3% to 3.50% to fund town police services, programs and facilities.

More than 57% of residents voted no on the town’s ballot issue 2E, according to early returns tabulated by the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder.

Also in Monument, voters approved by 63% ballot issue 2F, which moves the town’s regular elections from the first Tuesday of April in each even-numbered year to the Tuesday after the first Monday of November in each even-numbered year. The move will allow the county clerk and recorder to conduct a coordinated election, including the Town of Monument, reducing burden on staff and resulting in a possible cost savings to the town, proponents said.

Next door in Palmer Lake, Bill Bass bested Paul Banta in the race for mayor, winning the seat with 61.5% of the vote to Banta’s 38.5%, early returns from the clerk and recorder’s office show.

In the race for town council, Sam Padgett, Karen Stuth, Jessica Farr and Nicole Currier were voted in to fill four open seats.

Palmer Lake voters also approved ballot question 2D, allowing the town to publish notices related to payments of bills, contracts awarded and rebates allowed on the town’s official website.

Voters in the Triview Metropolitan District, which includes portions of Monument, approved ballot issue 6A, allowing the district to repurpose revenues from up to seven mills of its debt service mill levy starting in 2021 to fund the district’s operations and services.

The authorization will be suspended in future years when the district’s board anticipates receipt of sufficient sales tax revenues from the Town of Monument to fund the district’s budgeted services, or if the total mills levied by the district would exceed 35 mills.

Early returns from the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder show the ballot issue passed by more than 60%.

In northern El Paso County’s Donald Wescott Fire Protection District, voters approved two similar measures allowing the district and its northern subdistrict to adjust their respective mill levies to maintain property tax revenues in the event of changes in the methods of calculating a property’s assessed value — including the voter-approved repeal of Colorado’s Gallagher Amendment.

Passage of ballot questions 6B and 6C will allow tax revenues generated by the protection district’s mill levies to match tax revenues that would have been generated had these changes not occurred.

Statewide, voters approved the decision to repeal the Gallagher Amendment — Amendment B — by more than 57%, according to early results from the Colorado Secretary of State.

And voters in the Calhan Fire District passed ballot question 7B by more than 64%, permitting the district to implement an additional mill levy to add more firefighter paramedics, retain existing firefighters and EMTs, and replace emergency equipment and vehicles. 

Forrest Czarnecki/The Gazette

Matthew Laake fills out a new voter registration form while waiting in line at Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs Nov. 3. Vanguard church served as a location where voters could register, drop off completed ballots or fill out a ballot in person. Laake, who is stationed at Fort Carson, came to the church on his lunch break so he could register and fill out a ballot.

Forrest Czarnecki/The Gazette