New tax or feeLodging tax for parks, infrastructure and law enforcement
Creates a 3.5% lodging tax on Erie stays of 30 days or less from January 1, 2027, for parks, infrastructure, public safety and other general purposes.
Town of Erie
Kim's Recommendation
NO
Vote No on Town of Erie ballot issue 3E
Erie's lodging tax has no end date, and the short-term rentals it would first tax are ones the town does not yet license. Staff counted about 60 of them, estimated about $90,000 a year from them, and left the future Town Center hotel out of the estimate. The question also approves whatever the tax raises after its first year, so any revenue from that hotel arrives without another vote and outside the TABOR limits.
Staff's July slide named parks, roads and public safety, the uses survey respondents named most often, and the ballot lists them only as examples of general governmental purposes, leaving the allocation to the Town Council. I oppose a tax whose revenue and uses are both settled after the election.
I recommend a no vote on Town of Erie ballot issue 3E.
Kim Monson
Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026
Certified ballot question
AUTHORIZATION FOR A NEW TOWN LODGING TAX FOR THE PURPOSES OF PAYING FOR PARK AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, LAW ENFORCEMENT/SAFETY AND SECURITY, AND FOR OTHER GENERAL GOVERNMENTAL PURPOSES
SHALL THE TOWN OF ERIE TAXES BE INCREASED BY UP TO $150,000 COMMENCING ON JANUARY 1, 2027, AND BY WHATEVER AMOUNTS ARE GENERATED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER THROUGH THE IMPOSITION OF A LODGING TAX AT THE RATE OF THREE AND ONE HALF PERCENT ON THE TOTAL RENTAL FEE, PRICE, OR OTHER CONSIDERATION PAID OR CHARGED FOR THE LEASING OR RENTAL OF ANY HOTEL ROOM, MOTEL ROOM, BED AND BREAKFAST, SHORT TERM RENTAL OR OTHER ACCOMMODATION WITH A STAY OF THIRTY DAYS OR LESS, AND SHALL ALL REVENUES DERIVED FROM SUCH LODGING TAX BE USED FOR GENERAL GOVERNMENTAL PURPOSES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO PARK AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT/SAFETY AND SECURITY PURPOSES, AND SHALL THE REVENUES FROM SUCH TAXES AND ANY EARNINGS FROM THE INVESTMENT OF SUCH REVENUES BE COLLECTED AND SPENT AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE PURSUANT TO ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION AND ANY OTHER LAW?
A yes vote means
Approves the 3.5 percent lodging tax from January 1, 2027, and lets the town keep and spend the revenue as a voter-approved revenue change.
A no vote means
Rejects the lodging tax.
A First Tax on Short Stays01
Erie charges no local lodging tax today. Question 3E creates one at 3.5 percent of the rent or other charge for a hotel room, motel room, bed and breakfast, short-term rental or other accommodation, on any stay of 30 days or less. The tax begins January 1, 2027, and the question sets no end date. Erie voters in both Boulder and Weld counties decide it. The Town Council placed it on the ballot in Resolution 2026-164, which all seven members approved on August 11, 2026.
The July staff memo cited two prompts: the Sundance Film Festival is relocating to Boulder beginning in 2027, and staff expect Erie's first hotel to come with the future Town Center development.
Added Erie Lodging Tax
Tax on qualifying purchases at 3.5%.
$1,000 in taxable purchases
$1,000 at 3.5% = $35.00.
Enter the amount subject to this tax. Other taxes and exempt transactions are excluded.
Added tax
Enter a nonnegative dollar amount with no more than two decimal places.
Town of Erie ballot issue 3E: 3.5%.
Expected Revenue From Short-Term Rentals02
Staff's August 11 memo counts about 60 known short-term rental properties and estimates that the tax would raise about $90,000 a year under existing market conditions. The town does not license or regulate those rentals; staff said the Planning and Development Department will bring potential licensing and regulation recommendations to the council later this fall. The estimate leaves out revenue from future hotel development.
The question states the first-year increase as up to $150,000, the figure staff recommended as an appropriate first-year estimate, and authorizes "whatever amounts are generated annually thereafter." That figure sets no limit on later years, so growth from a hotel or from more rentals needs no further vote.
Uses Left to the Council03
The ballot title names park and recreational facilities, capital infrastructure, and law enforcement, safety and security, then adds "other general governmental purposes." The spending clause lists the same three after "including, but not limited to." In July, a staff slide recommended earmarking the money for parks, trails and recreation; roads and other capital infrastructure; and public safety support, the areas survey respondents mentioned most often. The staff memo for the same meeting called flexible language best practice, and the draft question already carried the "including, but not limited to" clause. The August memo says the Town Council would identify and allocate potential uses such as transportation services, infrastructure, public safety, or cultural and art programs.
Voter Approval Under TABOR04
The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires voter approval for any new tax and for spending certain funds above its limits. Question 3E gives both: it creates the tax, and it lets the town collect and spend all of the revenue and its investment earnings as a voter-approved revenue change under TABOR and any other law.
A Separate Community Center Question05
Erie voters also decide Question 3F, a sales and use tax increase and up to $32.5 million in debt for the Erie Community Center; its tax revenue may also pay other park and recreation expenses. Neither question depends on the other.
The source is Town of Erie Town Council meeting minutes from August 11, 2026, included in an August 25, 2026 agenda packet, and it records council approval of a resolution submitting a new lodging tax question to the November 3, 2026 election.
