City of Louisville

Louisville Historic Preservation Tax Through 2038

Tax extensionHistoric preservation sales tax through 2038

Continues Louisville's 0.125 percent historic preservation sales tax for ten more years to 2038, widens its permitted uses, and raises the maximum annual museum campus allocation from 20% to 30% of net proceeds.

City of Louisville

Kim's Recommendation

Vote No on City of Louisville ballot issue 2B

Ballot Issue 2B names $1.5 million for 2029 on a tax that city staff say generates about $900,000 a year, and staff chose the higher figure to avoid TABOR's consequences for overcollection in the first year. Those consequences are the check TABOR places on the first year of a tax increase: when first-year collections exceed the ballot's estimate, the rate falls and the excess goes back. I oppose an estimate set to clear that check. Under this one, the refund reaches 2029 collections only above $1.5 million, not above the yield staff report.

Voters set the fund's uses in 2017, and this question widens them in 2027, before the extension begins. The permanent use tax and the rest of the fund become available for city programs and capital projects that promote and preserve the city's history and cultural heritage, and the museum's cap rises from 20% to 30%. The sales tax runs through 2028, and I would rather see the council use that time to bring voters an extension built on a realistic estimate and the purposes they approved in 2017.

I recommend a no vote on City of Louisville ballot issue 2B.

Kim Monson

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

Certified ballot question

HISTORIC PRESERVATION TAX

SHALL CITY OF LOUISVILLE TAXES BE INCREASED $1.5 MILLION IN 2029 AND THEN ANNUALLY THEREAFTER BY WHATEVER AMOUNTS ARE GENERATED FROM THE CONTINUATION OF THE CITY'S HISTORIC PRESERVATION SALES TAX OF 0.125% BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2029, AND EXPIRING DECEMBER 31, 2038; WITH THE NET PROCEEDS OF SUCH SALES TAX, ALONG WITH THE CITY'S EXISTING 0.125% HISTORIC PRESERVATION USE TAX, TO BE UTILIZED FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION PURPOSES AS ESTABLISHED BY BALLOT ISSUES APPROVED BY THE VOTERS IN 2008 AND 2017, AND, COMMENCING ON JANUARY 1, 2027, SHALL THE CITY ALSO BE AUTHORIZED TO: (1) EXPEND ANY FUNDS FROM SUCH HISTORIC PRESERVATION TAX ON CITY PROGRAMS AND CAPITAL PROJECTS THAT PROMOTE AND PRESERVE THE CITY'S HISTORY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, AND (2) INCREASE THE PORTION OF SUCH TAX ALLOCATED TO OPERATING AND MAINTAINING THE LOUISVILLE MUSEUM CAMPUS FROM 20% TO 30% PER YEAR; AND SHALL THE CITY BE PERMITTED TO COLLECT, RETAIN AND EXPEND ALL REVENUES DERIVED FROM SUCH TAX AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE AND AN EXCEPTION TO LIMITS WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE APPLY UNDER ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION OR ANY OTHER LAW?

A yes vote means

Approves continuing the tax from January 1, 2029 to December 31, 2038, the wider purposes from January 1, 2027, and the increased museum campus allocation.

A no vote means

Lets the historic preservation sales tax expire on its present schedule and leaves its purposes and allocations as voters set them in 2008 and 2017.

Two Preservation Taxes Today01

Louisville pays for historic preservation with two taxes of 0.125% each. The sales tax is temporary: voters approved it in 2008 for ten years and continued it in 2017 for ten more, and it expires December 31, 2028. The use tax, which voters approved in 2010, is permanent. Ballot Issue 2B, set out in Ordinance No. 1928, Series 2026, continues the sales tax from January 1, 2029, through December 31, 2038. City staff wrote that TABOR requires voter approval for the extension, and the ballot presents it as a tax increase.

A shopper in Louisville pays a combined sales tax of 9.11% today under the state's January 2026 rate table (DR 1002). A yes vote keeps the 0.125% historic preservation share of that rate through 2038, and a no vote takes it off on January 1, 2029.

Because the tax runs through 2028, staff wrote that the council may choose to delay the question to a future ballot cycle.

The tax rate now and what this measure continues

	Rate
City of Louisville's own sales tax now (as of January 1, 2026, DR 1002)	3.775%
Continued by this measure (already part of today's rate)	0.125%

Boulder County ballot, City of Louisville ballot issue 2B

Historic Preservation Sales Tax Continued

Tax on qualifying purchases at 0.125%.

$1,000 in taxable purchases

$1,000 at 0.125% = $1.25.

Enter the amount subject to this tax. Other taxes and exempt transactions are excluded. This continues an existing charge rather than adding to the present rate.

City of Louisville ballot issue 2B: 0.125%.

Wider Uses for the Preservation Fund02

The ordinance also changes how the historic preservation fund is spent, starting January 1, 2027, two years before the extension; the changes reach the use tax and the sales tax collected under the 2017 approval. The fund pays today for incentives to preserve historic buildings and to hold new development to a historic scale, for staff time to run those programs, and for operating the Louisville Museum Campus, capped at 20% of the net proceeds each year. The ordinance raises the museum cap to 30% and adds a new purpose: city programs and capital projects that promote and preserve the city's history and cultural heritage.

Under the amendment, the Historic Preservation Commission recommends and the City Council approves every expenditure from the fund. Spending outside historic Old Town still needs the votes of at least five members of the council.

A Revenue Estimate Set High03

Staff put the sales tax's yield at approximately $900,000 a year; the ballot states $1.5 million for 2029. Staff wrote that the number "is overestimated to avoid the consequences under TABOR for overcollection in the first year." Had the ballot named $900,000 and the tax raised more in 2029, TABOR would have required the city to reduce the rate and refund the excess unless voters let it keep the money. After the first year, the ordinance lets the city collect and spend the revenue whether or not it exceeds the estimate, as a voter-approved exception to the limits of TABOR or any other law.

Sources04

Official documents

Boulder County compiled ballot, page 9 — November 3, 2026 election