Boulder County is currently recruiting members for a new advisory committee to help review grants to rural and mountain fire districts, ambulance services and search and rescue organizations from taxes collected from the Emergency Services sales tax that was passed as Issue 1B in 2022.

There will be nine members on the new Emergency Services Grant Program Advisory Committee which will make recommendations to the Boulder County Commissioners for distribution of the grants portion of the sales tax. The members will need to live in Boulder County and will be selected based on geographical and demographic criteria. Western Boulder County will get one representative who lives west of Highways 36/93. There will be one seat for an accessibility community representative and three member-at-large seats. The other seats will be for people living in rural fire districts east of Highways 36/93, outdoor volunteer organizations and search and rescue organizations.

Each member will serve a three-year term and will meet multiple times per month to evaluate grant requests for up to $3 million annually. Their recommendations will be presented to the county commissioners biannually for distribution from the sales tax revenue. The deadline for receiving applications is August 13 at midnight.

The Emergency Services Sales and Use tax ballot Issue 1B passed in 2022 with a super majority of 67%. It is intended to provide supplemental funding for rural, mountain and volunteer emergency services and search and rescue organizations as well as finance the construction of a new search and rescue building at 3720 Walnut in Boulder.

The County anticipates collecting $11 million annually during the initial 0.10% tax for the first five years. Construction of the new search and rescue facility is estimated to be between $15 million to $20 million dollars and was factored into the structure of the sales tax. $5 million per year will be used to finance the design, planning and construction of the new facility. Special Projects Coordinator Barbara Halpin stated that the County will pay for the different phases of construction with collected revenues, so the County will not have to borrow for the project.

The new facility will be in a commercial area of Boulder. The County received the land from the Federal Postal Service and is the headquarters for the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group (rockymountainrescue.org/) which has been serving Boulder since 1947.

The new facility will include offices, classrooms, communications, storage and maybe a drone hanger. It will become a key command and control center for search and rescue operations in Boulder County.

The rest of the revenue collected from the sales tax will be split approximately 50/50 between the County and the grants program. This tax is a permanent tax and will be reduced after 2027 to .05% which will be around $5 million annually. The Emergency Services Grant Program and the County will be receiving about $5 million annually starting in 2023.

The County will be responsible for non-grant items like bolstering ambulance services in underserved areas, trailhead safety along with other related outdoor emergency services. The grant program will distribute $2.5 to 3 million annually to rural and mountain fire districts, search and rescue, mounted search and rescue and other emergency-oriented organizations in the County. Grants will be awarded to these organizations to supplement their budgets for training costs or acquisition of equipment. Since it is a permanent tax, the committee will be continually reviewing grant requests and making recommendations to the commissioners. In ten years, the Emergency Services Grants Program will distribute about $25 million in grants and Boulder County will spend another $25 million beefing up outdoor emergency responses.

Disasters like the Marshall Fire or individual emergencies are unpredictable but the voters in Boulder approved this tax revenue to help those who respond to calls for help. Anyone who wants to help with the distribution of these funds has until midnight August 13 to apply to be a member of the Emergency Services Grants Program Advisory Committee.

For more information on the advisory committee and to apply can go to boco.org/EmergencyServicesGrants or contact Special Projects Coordinator Barbara Halpin (720-564-2830 or bhalpin@bouldercounty.org).