Issue 2E raises the rate of Morrison's existing lodging tax from 6% to 8%, with no end date. The ballot counts the higher rate as a $500,000 tax increase for the first full fiscal year, beginning January 1, 2027, and gives no figure for later years beyond whatever amounts are raised annually. The town may put the added money to any lawful municipal purpose. Approval also makes all revenue derived from the tax, and any earnings on it, a voter-approved revenue change that the town may collect, retain and spend despite the TABOR revenue and spending limits in Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution. For the first half of 2026, through June 30, the town's revenue report shows a lodging tax budget of $30,000 for the year and $0 in year-to-date revenue.
Raising Morrison's Lodging Tax Rate
Town staff told the board that Morrison's 6% lodging rate is not unusually high, and named a modest increase such as 7% or 8% if the board wanted a ballot measure. The board chose 8%. That choice matters to me because Issue 2E applies it to every taxable night in Morrison from 2027 on, with no end date.
The memo pointed to what visitors cost the town in streets, parking, facilities and infrastructure. I find nothing in the ballot question that ties the new money to those costs: it lets the town spend every dollar on any lawful municipal purpose, outside the TABOR limits.
In my judgment, those visitor costs do not justify taking the higher of the two rates staff named, with no end date and no requirement that the money go to the costs staff cited.
I recommend a no vote on Town of Morrison Ballot Issue 2E.
SHALL THE TOWN OF MORRISON’S TAXES BE INCREASED BY $500,000 IN THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR, COMMENCING JANUARY 1, 2027, AND BY WHATEVER AMOUNTS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER, BY INCREASING THE RATE OF THE TOWN’S EXISTING LODGING TAX FROM 6% TO 8%, WITH THE REVENUES THEREFROM TO BE SPENT ON ANY LAWFUL MUNICIPAL PURPOSE; AND SHALL ALL REVENUES DERIVED FROM SUCH TAX AND ANY EARNINGS THEREON BE COLLECTED, RETAINED, AND SPENT AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE NOTWITHSTANDING ANY REVENUE OR EXPENDITURE LIMITATIONS CONTAINED IN ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION?
Approves raising the lodging-tax rate from 6 percent to 8 percent beginning January 1, 2027, with no end date, and spending the revenue on any lawful municipal purpose. It also authorizes the town to collect, retain and spend all lodging-tax revenue and its earnings outside TABOR's revenue and spending limits.
Keeps the lodging tax rate at 6 percent.
The town tax on $100 of taxable lodging would rise from $6 to $8. The question states $500,000 in the first full fiscal year and whatever is raised thereafter.
$100 in taxable lodging charges
$100 × 2 ÷ 100 = $2.00 in added tax.
This shows the increase from the town lodging tax of 6% to 8%, not the whole tax or lodging bill. Other charges are excluded.
Town staff wrote in a memo for the board's July 7, 2026, meeting that a lodging tax increase is "reasonable for the Board to consider." The memo pointed to significant visitor impacts, including demands on streets, parking, facilities, administration and infrastructure, set against a relatively small resident and business tax base, and said a lodging tax lets the town recover a portion of those costs from overnight visitors. It judged the 6% rate "not unusually high" among Colorado visitor-serving municipalities. Its comparison table runs from 2% in Arvada and 3% in Lakewood to 8% in Mountain View and Aurora, 10% in Wheat Ridge and 10.75% in Denver, and it shows Morrison's lodging tax charged in addition to the town's 3.75% sales tax. If the board wanted a ballot measure, staff would recommend "a modest percentage increase such as 7% or 8%," and the memo left the choice of rate to the board. The board settled on 8% in Ordinance No. 564, passed 6-0 on July 21, 2026, which also referred Issue 2D and the term-limits question, Issue 2F.
Issue 2D, a separate question on the same ballot, removes the tax's exemption for small lodging establishments without changing the rate. Voters decide each question separately. If 2E passes and 2D fails, the 8% rate falls only on the establishments the tax already reaches, and the small-establishment exemption stays. Read together, the two questions put the 8% rate on every lodging facility in town if both pass, whatever its number of guest rooms. If 2E fails, the rate stays at 6% whatever happens to 2D.
- Town of Morrison ballot certification provided by the Jefferson County Clerk and RecorderJefferson County Clerk and Recorder · Sep 21, 2026
- Agenda, July 21, 2026Town of Morrison
- Agenda, Aug. 11, 2026Town of Morrison