Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Cortez, CO?

City of Cortez, Colorado

city

123 Roger Smith Ave, Cortez, CO 81321

Required

Re-roofing requires a building permit application accompanied by a site plan with lot and block number and/or address. A $30 base permit fee applies to every permit; roof permits up to 5,000 square feet are $150, and larger roofs are $150 plus $0.05 per square foot over 5,000 square feet.

The Building Division performs required inspections and maintains a 24-hour inspection scheduling line (970-564-4071); electrical inspections are handled by the State of Colorado rather than the city.

The 2015 Family of International Building Codes (including the IBC and IRC) with local amendments; Section 313 (residential fire sprinkler requirement) has been deleted, and the 2009 edition is used for energy efficiency standards.

Required — Not separately amended by the City of Cortez. Ordinance No. 1249, Series 2018, Section 2 (items a through n) is a textually exhaustive amendment list to the 2015 IRC -- covering R101.1, R108.2, R108.5, R113.4, R114.2, R112, Table R301.2(1), R2603.5.1, R105.2 (twice), R313, and Chapter 11 -- and does not delete or modify Section R905.2.8.5, so the base 2015 IRC drip-edge requirement stands as adopted code. About drip edge

Required — City of Cortez Ordinance No. 1249, Series 2018, Section 2(i) amends Table R301.2(1) to insert "Ice Underlayment Required: Yes." The City's "Building Codes & Design Standards" webpage republishes the same line as "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required: Yes." About ice & water barrier

Not required — The City of Cortez adopts the 2015 family of International Codes by reference at Cortez Code of Ordinances Section 6-1, International Building Codes Adopted, subsections (a) through (j), which includes the International Residential Code at subsection (j). That section was reviewed in full, together with the balance of Chapter 6, Article I, and it contains no impact-resistance or UL 2218 requirement. The City's own published summary of its local amendments identifies the deletion of the residential fire-sprinkler requirement, which is unrelated to impact resistance.

City of Cortez Ordinance No. 1249, Series 2018 (adopting the 2015 IRC), Section 2(i), "Table R301.2(1) Insert": "Ground Snow Load: 30 psf, non-reducable [sic]. Wind Design Speed: 115mph. Topographic Effects: No. Special Wind Region: No. Wind-Borne Debris Zone: No. Seismic Design Category: B. Weathering: Severe. Frost Line Depth: 32". Termite: NA. Winter Design Temperature 7°F. Ice Underlayment Required: Yes. Flood Hazards: Ord. No. 473, Series 1975 Initial Adoption into NFIP Current Map: 'The Flood Insurance Study for Montezuma County, Colorado, and Incorporated Areas, September 26, 2008.' Air Freezing Index: 1500. Mean Annual Temperature: 48.8." The City's own "Building Codes & Design Standards" webpage separately republishes the same design criteria but gives "Termite Infestation: Moderate/Heavy" where the ordinance itself prints "Termite: NA" -- quoted here from the operative ordinance text, with the webpage discrepancy noted rather than silently resolved.

Not separately amended by the City of Cortez. Ordinance No. 1249, Series 2018, Section 2 (items a through n), the full textually exhaustive amendment list to the 2015 IRC, does not touch Section R907 (Reroofing) or R908 (Roof Replacement), so the base 2015 IRC roof-recover/layer- limit provisions govern as adopted; the section text itself is behind the ICC paywall and not restated here. Base-code rule, read at 2015 IRC Section R908.3.1.1 (Roof re-cover not allowed) and quoted here rather than left behind the ICC paywall: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering" (nor where the existing covering is water soaked or deteriorated, or is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile). One existing layer may therefore be recovered; a second existing layer forces tear-off to the deck.

7.69% combined (state 2.9% + Montezuma County Health Services District 0.40% + Cortez Fire Protection District 0.54% + City of Cortez 3.85%). This corrects an earlier 7.15% figure that omitted the fire district. The Cortez Fire Protection District levies a 0.54% sales tax that took effect July 1, 2025, approved by the district's voters in November 2024 and applying to every transaction on which the State of Colorado levies a sales tax occurring within any area of the district. The January 2026 edition of Colorado Department of Revenue form DR 1002 carries it in the Fire Protection District table with the boundary description "Areas of central Montezuma county, including Cortez" -- so it reaches work inside the city, not only the surrounding county. The earlier figure rested on the June 19, 2019 edition of DR 1002, which predates the tax by six years. Montezuma County itself levies no general county sales tax: the January 2026 county table lists no Montezuma row, and DR 1002 states that a county not listed does not have a sales tax. Cortez is a home-rule municipality and self-collects its own sales tax -- the City's Taxes page states "The City of Cortez is a home rule municipality and self-collects its sales tax. City sales tax is directly remitted to the City of Cortez and not the State of Colorado," and "Effective January 1, 2026, the Cortez sales and use tax rate will change from 4.05% to 3.85%." Self-collection of the city's own portion does not displace the state-collected special district taxes, which is why both the health services district and the fire district are added here. The City also announced a temporary Sales Tax Holiday reducing its own 3.85% to 0% from October 18, 2026 through December 31, 2026, returning to 3.85% on January 1, 2027; 3.85% is the standing rate. The fire district's own boundary map was not independently read for this record -- the boundary basis is DR 1002's description.