OTHER COUNCIL ACTION
In other Basalt Town Council action on Tuesday night:
• The board voted 4-1 to suspend its tobacco tax for the remainder of the year starting April 1 to avoid violating Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights legislation that limits government revenues. TABOR requires government to estimate revenues that will be generated in the first full year of a new tax. Basalt voters approved the cigarette and tobacco tax in 2018 and this year is the first full year of collections. The town estimated the tax would generate $29,000 over the course of the year. It is hauling in significantly more, according to Town attorney Jeff Conklin. To rectify the situation, the town will suspend the tax and resume on Jan. 1, 2020. The voter approval doesn’t restrict revenues from the special tax beyond the first year.
Councilman Auden Schendler opposed the council’s direction. He said TABOR is creating a bureaucratic mess that will be confusing when the tax is suspended for three-fourths of this year and then reinstituted in 2020.
“This is another example of why TABOR is bad policy. It pisses me off. It’s lame,” Schendler said.
• The council, acting as the liquor-licensing agency, voted 5-0 to approve liquor licenses for Butch’s Lobster Shack and CC’s Café, two existing businesses. Butch Darden, operator of the seafood shack that operates only during summers, said he will expand his deck this year and serve alcohol. CC’s is adding liquor as a supplement to its coffee shop.