Honoring Those Who Serve

They Answered the Call. Colorado Should Answer Theirs.

SD4 carries an outsized share of Colorado's public safety burden. Fremont County alone hosts nine state correctional facilities, every one of them staffed by people who live here. The Florence Veterans Community Living Center cares for veterans, their spouses, and Gold Star families across this entire region. Rural law enforcement, fire, EMS, and 911 dispatch agencies train their people here — and watch them leave for Front Range pay.

Officers working mandatory overtime at FCF because the state won't fund adequate baseline staffing. Volunteer fire districts trying to recruit while equipment ages out. Dispatchers handling Teller County's emergency calls in pairs of two. Veterans in Florence wondering whether the next federal budget battle will determine their care. None of these are partisan problems. All of them are Denver problems Denver has the tools to fix.

I have the experience to use those tools. Nine years as a 911 dispatcher and Communications Training Officer at Colorado Springs PD. Marine Corps Sergeant. I will not let Washington's failures become SD4's burden. That's a commitment from someone who's served on both sides of the call.

Veterans Care That Holds the Line

Statutory minimum staffing standards for Colorado VCLCs, tied to resident acuity. A state backstop that activates when federal reimbursement falls. The Florence Veterans Community Living Center — and every VCLC in Colorado — should be insulated from Washington's politics. A promise to a veteran isn't a budget line. It's a contract written in service.

Complete the Framework for Dispatchers

Colorado law already classifies 911 dispatchers as first responders. The benefits framework hasn't caught up. Full PERA hazardous duty classification and workers' compensation parity statewide — the same protections law enforcement, fire, and EMS already receive. This isn't asking for more. It's asking for what the law already promised.

Stop the Front Range Pay Drain

Rural law enforcement, fire, EMS, and 911 agencies in SD4 train their people, then watch them leave for Front Range pay. A statewide rural first responder compensation floor — state supplemental funding to close the gap — keeps trained personnel where they're needed and stops Front Range departments from poaching the talent SD4 invested in.

Sustainable Funding for the People Who Show Up

Two Structural Fixes That Don't Require New Money

Backing first responders requires more than statutes — it requires sustainable funding. Two structural fixes that don't require new money. They just require the political will to spend existing dollars where they actually matter.

End Mandatory Overtime at FCF

Fremont County hosts nine state correctional facilities. The state pays massive overtime to keep them staffed because it refuses to fund adequate baseline positions. Chronic overtime costs more than the staffing it papers over — and burns out the officers doing the work. Reallocating existing CDOC overtime spend toward sustainable baseline staffing isn't a cost increase. It's a cost shift that pays for itself.

Rural Fire Districts Need Real State Support

The Colorado Fire Commission documents a $100 million-plus gap in rural fire staffing, equipment, and recruitment. SD4's rural fire districts — many staffed primarily by volunteers — can't close that gap on their own. A state Rural Fire District Sustainability Fund directly addresses what the Commission has been telling Colorado for years, with defensible space programs prioritized in communities where federal land dominates the map.

Public safety isn't a political talking point in SD4. It's nine correctional facilities. It's a Veterans Community Living Center. It's volunteer fire districts and short-staffed dispatch centers and officers driving in from Pueblo because their county priced them out. Backing them up isn't optional — it's the basic contract of state government. SD4 has held up its end. It's time the state held up the rest.

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Justin Kurth is fighting for the veterans, first responders, and working families of Senate District 4. Chip in to help us reach every voter across Fremont, Chaffee, Park, Teller, Lake, and Custer counties.

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