In the News

Editor’s introduction:

For well over a decade, the Town of Silver Cliff has been working to restore its historic zip code of 81249, which was lost in 1991 when the US Postal Service consolidated the Silver Cliff and Westcliffe Post Offices into its current location in Westcliffe.

The problem was that the invention of the internet and the massive increase in online ordering of goods were initially based on zip codes. This meant that when sales tax was collected, the money went to the city with the ZIP code. Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, despite being neighboring towns so close to each other that most passing through have no idea that two separate governments operate there. When Silver Cliff earned sales tax from online orders, that money instead went to Westcliffe.

Online ordering systems have improved over the last decade by utilizing the Geographic Information System (GIS); however, they are far from perfect, and often, sales taxes are applied to Westcliffe when they were earned in Silver Cliff.

In addition to the sales tax issues, the two towns have many duplicate addresses that cause delivery errors, and a return of the Silver Cliff zip code would help resolve this problem.

Representative Pettersen’s bill previously passed the House in December of 2024, but the Senate was not able to vote on the matter before the session ended. The process had to restart in this new legislative session. The bill still needs to be taken up by the Senate to move forward, but passing the House is a big step forward for restoring the zip code. – Jordan Hedberg

The US House of Representatives passed H.R.3095, bipartisan legislation that included a provision introduced by Representative Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) to restore the Town of Silver Cliff’s ZIP Code.

In 1991, the town lost its unique ZIP Code and was forced to use the ZIP Code of the neighboring town of Westcliffe, which has resulted in delays and extensive errors with postal delivery, as well as a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue. The bill would reinstate the original ZIP Code to the Town of Silver Cliff, decoupling them from Westcliffe and alleviating these issues.

“Coloradans depend on a reliable postal service for every¬thing from prescription drugs and billing notices to food, clothing, and other basic necessities,” said Pettersen. “Unfortunately, ever since the Town of Silver Cliff lost its unique ZIP Code, they’ve had subpar postal service that has led to the loss of thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue and countless delayed and lost deliveries. It’s unacceptable, and I’ve been fighting in Congress to restore their ZIP Code and alleviate these chal¬lenges. I’m grateful to see this provision pass with bipartisan support and will keep working to get it across the finish line.”

“We’re excited and hopeful for the passage of H.R. 3095. After five unsuccessful boundary reviews in a 30-year period, this is the closest we’ve ever gotten to regaining the use of our ZIP Code – 81249,” said Mayor H.A. “Buck” Wenzel. “Since our ZIP Code was arbitrarily and capriciously removed by the USPS, and our town was forced to use the ZIP Code of the neighboring Town of Westcliffe, the Town of Silver Cliff not only lost our identity, but has been financially disparaged losing hundreds of thousands of dollars from online, out-of-county and out-of-state sales, and to date, our residents are still experiencing service delivery issues due to both towns having like and similar street names.”

As a founding member of the bipartisan Delivering Postal Solutions Caucus, Pettersen has been committed to solving postal issues across her district. Since coming to Congress, Pettersen has urged USPS to take action to restore the Silver Cliff ZIP Code, as well as to address subpar service and delays in communities throughout Colorado.