Boulder City Council voted unanimously Thursday, Aug. 7, to place a measure on the November 2025 ballot that would extend the city’s existing 0.3% Community, Culture, Resilience, and Safety Sales and Use Tax permanently.
The funding would go toward capital projects like roads, bike lanes, recreation center renovations, snow and ice response, parks and playground refurbishments, fire and police station renovations, bridge replacements, and trail and trailhead improvements.
The sales tax extension is expected to raise an estimated $15 million annually. The ballot measure would also include a provision to increase the city’s debt authorization for capital projects up to $262 million. Combined, the funding would help address what officials say is a critical $380 million backlog of maintenance and repair needs.
The decision followed a city poll showing more than 60% of respondents support the measure — stronger backing than any other tax proposal tested. The same poll led councilmembers not to pursue a property tax measure on the 2025 ballot.
Before the vote, Councilmember Matt Benjamin asked whether the city could name specific popular projects — like repairing the failing South Boulder Rec Center — to provide a “more specific carrot” to voters. Staff responded that they intentionally left the list of eligible projects vague in order to maximize flexibility.
Maximizing flexability frequently means diverging from the initial objectives. Typical politician talk.
I was very surprised that the headline here was about extending an existing tax which generates about $15M of revenue when this proposal also includes new debt of $262M! It seems like the real financial impact on taxpayers will be the additional debt. If this measure gets approved, can the city issue the bond with no further taxpayer input? Do we have any idea what the additional debt service on that amount might be? I kind of feel like this measure is a trojan horse and that you got the headline wrong.