City of Boulder Ballot Issue 2X - No

These measures (Ordinances 8710 and 8711) authorize the extension of a 0.3 percent Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety and Use Tax (CCRS) and the increase of debt to build and maintain capital improvements. This tax, before any extension, will not sunset until 2036.

PLAN-Boulder opposes this tax for the following reasons:

•   The funding priorities, program goals and effectiveness of outcomes are opaque to voters;
•   The funding strategy of continually asking voters for new or extended taxes to resolve budget shortfalls is shortsighted and near the end of what voters can support;
•   The request for extending this tax in perpetuity is a much too open-ended authorization of future indebtedness.

The CCRS Tax is a .3% dedicated Sales and Use tax funds city capital projects and the maintenance to take care of them. It also provides some funds for community non-profits that serve the Boulder community. Originally approved by voters as the "Community, Culture and Safety Tax" in 2014 and subsequently extended in 2017, the tax underwent another extension in 2021 under its current name and will run until 2036. If approved, this proposed extension is set to run in perpetuity.

The city will use the funding generated by extending the CCRS tax for additional capital improvement projects and to increase the City’s ability to take on debt. This debt would then be repaid with dollars collected through the CCRS tax in the future. The city proposes this additional taxation without a sunset provision to accelerate the development of future projects now rather than in the future.

In considering whether to support this tax or not, PLAN-Boulder asked if the city should continue to meet its revenue shortfalls with new and/or extended taxes, almost all of which are Sales and Use taxes. We do not agree with relying on the voters to support this method of financial management. PLAN-Boulder recommends that there be an extensive evaluation, that includes the public, of all our city programs and facilities. This evaluation would reveal programs and services that may be outdated, ineffective or low priority. To the extent that any of this evaluation currently takes place in the internal staff budgeting process, it is invisible to the public. By the time the budget makes it to public consideration, it is fully baked, with little to no opportunity for this kind of evaluation by the voters.

We recommend that a new Blue Ribbon Commission of Boulder citizens (similar to the very successful 2008 and 2010 Blue Ribbon Commissions that studied and reported on revenues and expenditures) should be formed to evaluate and report on the programs and facilities that the City currently funds and make recommendations for determining their effectiveness and priority. The goals of a Blue Ribbon Commission would be to both illuminate the city finances and to provide a much clearer picture of those finances to the public. Then voters will have the information needed to approve or reject future taxes.

Boulder County Ballot Issue 1A - Yes

This issue is an extension of the existing 0.15% countywide Open Space Sales and Use tax in perpetuity, for the purpose of acquiring, improving, managing, and maintaining Open Space lands and other Open Space property interests including agriculture.

PLAN-Boulder County supports this issue. The City and County Open Space programs are among the most popular and successful of any that are supported by our taxes. They are vital to protection of the critical natural resources that are being destroyed by growth and development. A continuation of existing funding for Open Space is important and is well worth a vote for approval.

While PLAN-Boulder does not generally support taxes in perpetuity, preferring to see specific purposes with timelines attached, the need for funding to protect our Open Space assets will be needed in perpetuity, and for this reason PLAN-Boulder supports the extension of the Open Space tax in perpetuity.

Boulder County Ballot Issue 1B - Yes

This issue is a new sales tax for Mental and Behavioral Health funding that proposes a new Sales and Use tax of 0.15% for 3 years to address unmet needs of youth, adults, families, unhoused individuals, and older adults in Boulder County.

PLAN-Boulder supports this issue with reservations. We wanted more detail about exactly what this tax might deliver. There have been many requests for the County Commissioners to take more time to identify what services would be provided, how much funding would be distributed, and to whom. There has been significant support expressed by the community for a treatment facility rather than spreading the funding among many service providers. The Commissioners took note of these comments and reduced the duration of the tax to three years to fill current needs, especially since federal funding has been lost. PLAN-Boulder encourages the county to use this time to develop a more specific plan for what the tax will be spent on and how the revenue will be allocated.