In 2014 voters approved a new 5-year 0.185% county sales tax to fund flood recovery efforts following the famous 2013 flood. The county commissioners would like to extend the tax for five more years but repurpose it for Boulder County Jail facilities and programs, primarily construction of an alternative sentencing facility and expenses related to offender management programs.
In 2003 Boulder County voters approved a permanent 0.05% sales and use tax for jail improvement and operation. Taxpayers did not feel an increase in taxes then because the jail tax replaced an expiring Fire Training Center tax. According to the 2003 Colorado Daily’s Election Guide, that tax would fund 64 more beds in the jail, pay for construction of a new detox facility and fund alternative sentencing and rehab programs.
Recommendation: leaning yes
Proponents and the ballot title argue that jail beds are expensive for low-risk offenders. An alternative sentencing facility would be a wise use of the county budget and, luckily for the commissioners, is a project that might appeal to voters.
Construction funds probably should have been allocated already, perhaps by issuing bonds against the 0.05% sales tax or by earlier placing a tax increase before the voters. In 2016 when former Democratic county commissioner Paul Danish was a Republican candidate for county commissioner, he wrote in the August 4, 2016 issue of the Boulder Weekly about the dire straits of the county jail and the lack of political will by the county commissioners to do anything about it. The 2018 election appears to be the politically expedient time to ask for a politically expedient tax extension.
A sales tax is regressive, the Boulder County budget has ballooned over the last twenty years, and one wonders if the commissioners should have found another way to pay for an alternative sentencing facility or, at a minimum, asked for a smaller sales tax. The “temporary” flood recovery tax increased the county portion of the sales tax by over 20%.
Ongoing offender management programs should not be funded with a temporary tax. I would have preferred that the commissioners ask for the amount needed for facility construction, rather than for the full 0.185%. The commissioners, all of whom were commissioners in 2014, may be accused of breaking their promise not to extend the 0.185% sales tax, but if they had asked for a smaller tax, would they have been able to replace the “With no increase in any county tax” language in the ballot title?” with “With a decrease in county taxes…”?
Website for the Yes Side
No known website – Info on a supporters’ website appreciated.
Website for the No Side
No known website – Info on an opponents’ website appreciated.
Approved Ballot Language
COUNTY ISSUE 1A (Alternative Sentencing Facility and Jail Modernization Countywide Sales and Use Tax Extension)
WITH NO INCREASE IN ANY COUNTY TAX, SHALL THE COUNTY EXTEND AN EXISTING 0.185% SALES AND USE TAX SET TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2019, FOR FIVE (5) YEARS TO AND INCLUDING DECEMBER 31, 2024, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FUNDING CONSTRUCTION OF AN ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING FACILITY AT THE BOULDER COUNTY JAIL AND PROVIDING EXPANDED ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING AND OFFENDER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS TO KEEP LOW-RISK OFFENDERS OUT OF EXPENSIVE JAIL BEDS AND ENABLE BETTER OUTCOMES FOR THE JAIL POPULATION; MODERNIZATION OF THE CURRENT JAIL BUILDING, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE REPLACEMENT, RENOVATIONS AND REPURPOSING TO PROVIDE A SAFER ENVIRONMENT AND ADDITIONAL SERVICES TO MEET THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH NEEDS OF INMATES; AND SHALL THE PROCEEDS AND THE EARNINGS ON THE INVESTMENT OF THE PROCEEDS OF SUCH TAX CONSTITUTE A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE; ALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ RESOLUTION NO. 2018-76?
YES/FOR _____
NO/AGAINST _____
Resolution No. 2018-76 to refer 1A to the voters
https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018-76-resolution-describing-ballot-proposal.pdf
In 2003 Boulder County voters approved a permanent 0.05% sales and use tax for jail improvement and operation. Taxpayers did not feel an increase in taxes then because the jail tax replaced an expiring Fire Training Center tax. According to the 2003 Colorado Daily’s Election Guide, that tax would fund 64 more beds in the jail, pay for construction of a new detox facility and fund alternative sentencing and rehab programs.
Recommendation: leaning yes
Proponents and the ballot title argue that jail beds are expensive for low-risk offenders. An alternative sentencing facility would be a wise use of the county budget and, luckily for the commissioners, is a project that might appeal to voters.
Construction funds probably should have been allocated already, perhaps by issuing bonds against the 0.05% sales tax or by earlier placing a tax increase before the voters. In 2016 when former Democratic county commissioner Paul Danish was a Republican candidate for county commissioner, he wrote in the August 4, 2016 issue of the Boulder Weekly about the dire straits of the county jail and the lack of political will by the county commissioners to do anything about it. The 2018 election appears to be the politically expedient time to ask for a politically expedient tax extension.
A sales tax is regressive, the Boulder County budget has ballooned over the last twenty years, and one wonders if the commissioners should have found another way to pay for an alternative sentencing facility or, at a minimum, asked for a smaller sales tax. The “temporary” flood recovery tax increased the county portion of the sales tax by over 20%.
Ongoing offender management programs should not be funded with a temporary tax. I would have preferred that the commissioners ask for the amount needed for facility construction, rather than for the full 0.185%. The commissioners, all of whom were commissioners in 2014, may be accused of breaking their promise not to extend the 0.185% sales tax, but if they had asked for a smaller tax, would they have been able to replace the “With no increase in any county tax” language in the ballot title?” with “With a decrease in county taxes…”?
Website for the Yes Side
No known website – Info on a supporters’ website appreciated.
Website for the No Side
No known website – Info on an opponents’ website appreciated.
Approved Ballot Language
COUNTY ISSUE 1A (Alternative Sentencing Facility and Jail Modernization Countywide Sales and Use Tax Extension)
WITH NO INCREASE IN ANY COUNTY TAX, SHALL THE COUNTY EXTEND AN EXISTING 0.185% SALES AND USE TAX SET TO EXPIRE DECEMBER 31, 2019, FOR FIVE (5) YEARS TO AND INCLUDING DECEMBER 31, 2024, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FUNDING CONSTRUCTION OF AN ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING FACILITY AT THE BOULDER COUNTY JAIL AND PROVIDING EXPANDED ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING AND OFFENDER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS TO KEEP LOW-RISK OFFENDERS OUT OF EXPENSIVE JAIL BEDS AND ENABLE BETTER OUTCOMES FOR THE JAIL POPULATION; MODERNIZATION OF THE CURRENT JAIL BUILDING, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE REPLACEMENT, RENOVATIONS AND REPURPOSING TO PROVIDE A SAFER ENVIRONMENT AND ADDITIONAL SERVICES TO MEET THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH NEEDS OF INMATES; AND SHALL THE PROCEEDS AND THE EARNINGS ON THE INVESTMENT OF THE PROCEEDS OF SUCH TAX CONSTITUTE A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE; ALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ RESOLUTION NO. 2018-76?
YES/FOR _____
NO/AGAINST _____
Resolution No. 2018-76 to refer 1A to the voters
https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018-76-resolution-describing-ballot-proposal.pdf
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