Idaho Springs occupation tax on businesses that sell outdoor recreation, starting at $3 per customer per experience

Rafting outfitters, the gondola and jeep tours in Idaho Springs would owe the city $3.00 "PER CUSTOMER PER EXPERIENCE" if Issue 2A passes. The tax would begin January 1, 2027, on businesses providing outdoor recreation for pay within city limits. The ballot names gondola rides, river outfitters, bicycle and e-bike rentals, ziplines, jeep and four-wheeling ventures and "SIMILAR ACTIVITIES WHERE THE OPERATOR PROVIDES FACILITATED OUTDOOR RECREATION FOR COMPENSATION," a list it opens with "INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO."

Ordinance 19 of 2026 refers the question and writes the tax into the city code if voters approve; the council amended it when passing it on August 24. In the text introduced July 27, every participant is a separate customer, even when a group pays one price. Each ride, river trip, rental or zipline run is one experience, and each activity in a package, such as a gondola ride followed by a zipline run, counts separately. The July text excludes activities conducted exclusively on private property not open to the public, equipment-only rental without a guided, facilitated or primarily outdoor access component, and qualifying noncompeting nonprofit activities carried out solely for a Section 501(c)(3) organization's charitable, educational or recreational mission. It exempts government activities without a private commercial operator, activities for which no compensation or value is exchanged, required school coursework for enrolled students that is not offered commercially to the public, and therapeutic programs operated or directly supervised by a licensed healthcare provider.

The July text makes the business the taxpayer, not the customer. An operator may pass its cost on to customers, but only the operator is liable to the city. Under the July text, covered operators would need an annual city permit and generally file quarterly returns counting customers and experiences; a seasonal operator inactive for an entire quarter could submit a brief written notice instead. Unpaid tax carries a 10% penalty and 10% annual interest, and each day a required return goes unfiled is a separate criminal offense under the city code.

As introduced, the question read "UP TO THREE DOLLARS" and capped the rate at $3.00. At passage the mayor amended it to $5.00; the Aug. 24 minutes say the change "allows for flexibility and takes into account inflation." The certified question starts the tax at $3.00 and lets the council adjust it by ordinance "SO LONG AS THE RATE DOES NOT EXCEED FIVE DOLLARS ($5.00) PER CUSTOMER PER EXPERIENCE AND MAY ADJUST ONLY ON JANUARY 1ST OF ANY GIVEN YEAR."

In the TABOR notice, the city estimates the tax will raise at most $1,100,000 in 2027 and puts 2027 spending without it at $14,712,222. The question raises taxes by $1.1 million in 2027 "AND BY WHATEVER ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER," so later collections are not held to that estimate. It sets no expiration. The city could collect, keep and spend all of the revenue as a voter-approved revenue change, outside TABOR's limits and any other spending or revenue limit in law.

The same notice shows city spending of $5,121,799 in 2022 and an estimated $14,011,640 in 2026, an increase it gives as 173.6%. Spending peaked at $16,481,126 in 2025.

The question dedicates all of the revenue to the impacts of commercial outdoor recreation on city resources, such as parking, streets, police and other first responders, water and parks. The July text's findings describe an unprecedented increase in outdoor recreation, naming the recently opened gondola, new mountain-biking trails in Virginia Canyon Mountain Park and paid outfitters. They say the increase in commercial recreation adds wear on streets and demand for emergency services, utilities and parks.

The comments for the measure, as the TABOR notice summarizes them, say tourism's costs now fall on local taxpayers and this tax would put them on the people using the services. They say recreation services are now sales tax free and this tax would be "in place of sales tax, not in addition to it," and that a $12 tax on a family of four's outing costing over $500 "will barely even be noticed." The question changes no sales tax, and the July text says the occupation tax "does not constitute a sales tax." The notice lists no comments against.

Idaho Springs voters will also decide Clear Creek County Issue 1A, which would raise the county tax on short-term lodging from 2% to 6% outside Georgetown. It would charge a percentage of room rent, and each question passes or fails separately. The county estimates 1A would raise $800,000 more in 2027, and up to 60% of its revenue could go to county infrastructure and public safety.