City of Evans

New Uses for the Evans Grocery Tax

Tax reallocationBroader uses of the existing grocery tax

Broadens the uses of Evans’ existing grocery sales tax to include city-facility operations and performance-based economic development incentives, without raising the rate.

City of Evans

Kim's Recommendation

Vote No on City of Evans ballot issue 2C

A yes vote lets the Evans City Council fund incentives for businesses from a tax on the food households buy to eat at home. Under Issue 2C, part of that money could go to companies the council selects. I oppose using a tax on family groceries to reward the commercial projects a council favors.

The city projects this fund's available balance at $3,482,011 by the end of 2030, after the police station payments, the station's upkeep and the debt reserve, and plans no capital spending from the fund in those years. When a grocery tax is projected to collect more than the purposes voters approved for it require, I believe the surplus belongs to the people who paid it, through a lower tax on food. Issue 2C instead opens new ways to spend that money, with no end date and no cap on incentives.

I recommend a no vote on City of Evans ballot issue 2C.

Kim Monson

Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026

Certified ballot question

WITHOUT INCREASING THE CITY'S SALES TAX RATE, SHALL THE CITY OF EVANS EXPAND THE PERMITTED USES OF ITS EXISTING SALES TAX ON FOOD FOR DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION, APPROVED BY THE VOTERS IN 2002 AND EXPANDED PURPOSES APPROVED BY THE VOTERS IN 2021, TO INCLUDE COMMUNITY BENEFIT PURPOSES SUCH AS: · PROVIDING OPERATIONS THAT SUPPORT AND SUSTAIN CITY FACILITIES AND IMPROVEMENTS, AND · PROVIDING PERFORMANCE-BASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES TO ATTRACT NEW COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, CREATE JOBS, EXPAND SHOPPING OPPORTUNITIES AND GENERATE NEW SALES TAX REVENUE, · MAINTAINING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PREVIOUSLY FINANCED WITH THIS TAX, INCLUDING THE POLICE FACILITY, AS THE CITY'S FIRST PRIORITY, AND SHALL ALL SUCH EXPENDITURES BE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AND APPROPRIATION BY THE CITY COUNCIL; 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

Allows the expanded uses, with maintenance of previously financed public improvements as the first priority and City Council approval of expenditures.

A no vote means

Leaves the tax’s previously approved purposes in place.

Where Grocery Tax Money Goes Today01

Evans voters approved a city sales tax on food for domestic consumption in 2002. The city describes that food as generally groceries and similar products bought to prepare or eat at home. The 2002 vote dedicated the revenue to capital improvements for parks and recreation facilities, trails and walkways, streets, bridges and traffic control. In 2021 voters added designing, constructing, equipping and maintaining a new police station. The city code limits spending of the revenue to those purposes. The 2002 ordinance mentioned economic development incentives, but the 2002 ballot question did not. City staff say incentives are not an authorized use today.

Broader Uses for the Tax02

Issue 2C keeps the rate and the taxed items as they are and adds uses it lists as "COMMUNITY BENEFIT PURPOSES SUCH AS": operations that support and sustain city facilities and improvements, and performance-based economic development incentives to attract new commercial development, create jobs, expand shopping opportunities and generate new sales tax revenue. It keeps maintenance of improvements the tax already paid for, including the police facility, as the city's first priority. Each of these expenditures is subject to the City Council's approval and appropriation.

The question sets no dollar limit on incentives, no share of the revenue for any use and no end date. Issue 2C also lets the city collect and spend the revenue and its investment earnings as a voter-approved revenue change under TABOR, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, and any other law. A no vote leaves the 2002 and 2021 uses in place.

The Council's Stated Intent03

Resolution No. 28-2026, a companion resolution on the council's September 15 agenda, says the council intends to keep the existing purposes first and, if more money is available, to decide each year whether to use the tax for incentives. It favors "pay-as-you-go" incentives when appropriate, paid after a business makes its investment and produces the agreed activity or revenue, with each incentive brought to the council separately. The resolution calls these statements of "present policy intent" that are not meant to "bind future councils."

The Food Tax Fund's Budget04

The grocery tax, not the General Fund, repays the $26,820,000 in certificates of participation Evans issued in 2025 for the new police station and a renovation of the Evans Community Complex, with lease payments ending in 2055. For 2026 the fund budgets $2,432,414 in grocery tax revenue and $1,697,200 in debt service. Its projections for 2027 through 2030 add police station operations and maintenance of $400,000 to $500,000 a year and carry no capital spending. After a $1,700,000 debt reserve, the 2026 budget puts the fund's available balance at $1,244,361 at the end of 2026, and the city projects $3,482,011 at the end of 2030.

Sources05

Official documents

Weld County 2026 sample ballot, page 4, column 4