The long-term future of a tax that funds Boulder County’s open spaces lies in the hands of Boulder County voters.
Boulder County commissioners voted 2-1 last week to put a measure on the November ballot that will ask voters whether to put a 10-year extension on a .15% sales and use that would generate about $15 million annually tax for the county’s open spaces. As it stands, the tax is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2030. The sales and use tax is a portion of the county’s collective .475% in sale and use taxes for open spaces. Marta Loachamin and Claire Levy voted in favor, and Ashley Stolzmann voted against.
The measure’s initial language would have asked voters to extend the sales tax in perpetuity, but there was uncertainty over public support. Those concerns also centered on if the measure’s language was too focused on land acquisitions and not focused enough on helping farmers.
“Our main concern about the sales tax extension is about how it is silent on agricultural maintenance,” Taber Ward said during the public comments section of the meeting. Ward, who co-founded Urban Mountain Flower Urban Goat Dairy, said she was representing a food and agriculture committee.
Ward later added that agriculturalists’ needs include updating existing housing for farm workers and wash pack stations, which is where farm workers wash produce.
“We’d love to see a more involved stakeholder process where we could meet with farmers, meet with other stakeholders in this process and really hear the needs,” Ward said.
Commissioners hope that a 10-year extension will provide an opportunity to revisit the tax’s effectiveness. Stolzmann showed interest in supporting the tax in perpetuity.
The open space tax helps the county manage its open space, whether that means land acquisitions, meeting agricultural needs such preserving soil health and improving water efficiency, or open space maintenance. A staff presentation to the county commissioners at their Aug. 12 meeting showed that the county has more than $15 million dedicated toward land acquisitions in the coming years. That includes $6.7 million due next year toward the planned purchase of the 766-acre Dowe Flats property and $5.2 million due in the coming years for the Zweck farm just west of Longmont.
The county also has more than $14 million in open space priorities over the next five years, including buffalo reintroduction efforts, cleanup of the Cardinal Mill mine, the South St. Vrain Creek restoration project and the completion of the Prairie Run Open Space, the latter of which the county hopes to begin opening to the public in 2026.
Open space taxes have had broad support from voters for decades and have been passed by voters multiple times since 1993. Boulder County’s Parks & Open Space Department oversees more than 100,000 acres of open space, 67,000 of which it owns outright, according to a staff presentation for the commissioners.
The sales and use tax is one of two measures the commissioners discussed on Aug. 12. The other is a potential .15% sales and use tax to fund mental health services in the county. The commissioners are set to make a decision on that measure in their Tuesday meeting.