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City Weighs Cigarettes

The Community Youth Coalition was at it again Tuesday, this time dressed as faux game show contestants buzzing in to answer questions about cheap cigarettes in front of the Cortez City Council.

The mood was jovial, but turned serious as the council and city staff raised concerns about the unintended consequences of a proposed ordinance targeted at the sale of smokeless cigarettes online to minors.

Mayor Dan Porter said he is concerned about consumers simply seeking buy cigarettes products from businesses outside the city limits, which would have a competitive edge.

"Now instead of going to get milk at the Walgreens, they're going to get it from Maverick county store," he said. "Cortez is going to be the only place to make somebody have a $250 license to do this. It's more laws, which people are tired of. People are sick and tired of being legislated on everything, especially if they perceive that there's laws being broken that aren't being enforced."

Sales tax revenues make up a large majority of city income.

The proposed ordinance would initiate a cheap cigarettes retail licensing system much like one in place for liquor retailers. It is designed to give officials more teeth to enforce violations of retail sale of smokeless discount cigarettes to minors.

Councilor Tom Butler said although he is against online cigarettes use, his constituents have expressed to him a perception of the effort as "more government control."

"I'm elected to vote the views of the people who elected me, not my own conscience," Butler said.

Julia Hesse, coordinator of the county discount cigarettes education and prevention program, said she understands the perceptions of bureaucracy and money grab.

"That's not what this is, Hesse said. "It's something that's going to reduce health care costs in Colorado, which spends $3 billion a year in health care costs related to smoking cigarettes. Not all cigarettes, but just smoking cigarettes."

Councilor Matt Keefauver challenged Butler, saying the constituents he associates with would likely have a much different perception of the proposed ordinance.

The proposed ordinance is part of an effort by an alliance of area organizations that have taken up the charge against youth cheap cigarettes use.

The Target cigarettes Coalition, the Montezuma County Health Department's cigarettes education and prevention program and the School Community Youth Coalition's youth leadership council have spent the past year studying underage cigarettes access and use in the county, and are proposing regulations in Cortez.

Hesse said that compliance checks have shown violations in the past.

"We know that six out of 10 kids who try to buy from stores in Colorado are successful," she said.

Under the proposed system, stores that sell cigarettes would pay $250 to $400 annually to buy a license to sell cigarettes. If found to be selling cigarettes to youths under 18, the stores would be fined for each violation. After three violations, the store would lose its license to sell noncigarette cigarettes.

The group is also proposing restricting new businesses from selling cigarettes within 1,000 feet of a youth facility. Existing businesses would be grandfathered in and not be subject to this restriction. Lastly, the group is exploring a ban on minors in a cigarettes business without a legal guardian, and requirements that juveniles not be able to sell cigarettes.

If city council approves the proposal, Cortez will be the first city in Colorado to have a cigarettes licensing system.

Under the group's proposal, the annual license fee would pay for the policy's enforcement and administration.

Hesse had previously told the council that since state funding for cigarettes use prevention was slashed from $23 million to $7 million, the rate of cigarettes use among youths is once again on the rise. She argued that regulation is more effective than public awareness campaigns at preventing cigarettes use.

Colorado does not have a licensing mechanism for cigarettes sales. The state is one of only seven that do not license cigarettes sales. Businesses caught selling to minors are fined, Hesse said, but there is no stronger consequence.

Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane had previously told the council that under current laws, enforcement of cigarettes sales to juveniles is a "nightmare," essentially requiring retailers to be caught in the act.

Lane said sting operations would be set up four times a year to test if retailers are selling cigarettes to youths. He said the operation would require 45 minutes of a police officer's time, not including the time it takes to write reports and testify in municipal court, where violation cases would be heard.

City Attorney Mike Green told the Council Tuesday that he believes the cost of prosecuting violators in court would exceed the revenues brought in by cigarettes license sales.

The group plans to include language in the proposed policy that would specifically target noncigarette cigarettes products, an acknowledgment of the excise tax the city receives from cigarette sales, which is distributed through the state to the city at the tune of approximately $39,000 annually.

The council raised concerns that if the ordinance were enacted, consumers would take their business outside city limits. Sales tax revenues make up a majority of income for the city.

Hesse believes the policy will still be effective, pointing to a survey completed in 2008 in which nearly 45 percent of area high school students reported using forms of cigarettes other than cigarettes.

Even if the ordinance were enacted, it would likely not entirely eliminate underage cigarettes use. Lane estimated more than half of minors who use cigarettes in the area get it from parents or family members.

Hess said studies show 27 percent of minors get cigarettes from retail stores, and the effort is designed to cut off one source.

"We know who they are, we know they repeatedly sell, and we believe that this is a very good policy," she said. "We're talking about cutting off a source of nicotine addiction for kids."

The council decided to gather more public feedback on the issue and is not scheduled to vote on the proposed ordinance at this time.

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