New tax or feeSales and use tax for a proposed municipality
Creates a 2.5 percent Niwot sales and use tax from 2028, $2.8 million in the first full year, for capital improvements, debt repayment and any lawful municipal purpose. Takes effect only if question 300 passes and Niwot becomes a municipality.
Proposed Municipality of Niwot
Kim's Recommendation
NO
Vote No on Proposed Municipality of Niwot ballot issue 302
Most of the taxable sales the committee counts on are remote sales delivered to Niwot addresses, about $55 million of an estimated $80 million, rather than purchases in Niwot stores. The same reach covers online orders, cellphone plans and building materials. That takes money from residents on purchases they never make in a Niwot store, and I oppose it.
This tax is the repayment source Issue 306 names for its road bonds. Those bonds are payable from sales and use tax money, so approving 302 together with 306 lets the new municipality commit, on the committee's model, about $1.23 million a year of those collections to bondholders for roughly two decades. A no vote on 302 takes that source away, and I will not support a tax whose stated purposes include repaying new debt.
I recommend a no vote on Proposed Municipality of Niwot ballot issue 302.
Kim Monson
Host, The Kim Monson Show · President, Colorado Union of Taxpayers · Colorado Voter's Guide 2026
Certified ballot question
AUTHORIZATION TO LEVY A SALES AND USE TAX
SHALL NIWOT TAXES BE INCREASED BY $2,800,000 ANNUALLY IN THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR, AND BY WHATEVER ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS ARE RAISED ANNUALLY THEREAFTER FROM A SALES AND USE TAX IMPOSED AT THE RATE OF TWO AND ONE-HALF PERCENT (2.5%), COMMENCING ON JANUARY 1, 2028, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FUNDING CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND RELATED OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DEBT REPAYMENT, AND ANY LAWFUL MUNICIPAL PURPOSE WITH (I) THE SALES TAX TO BE IMPOSED ON THE SALE OF TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY AND TAXABLE SERVICES, EXCEPT FOR FOOD FOR DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION AND SUCH OTHER CATEGORIES TO BE EXEMPT AS DETERMINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE MUNICIPALITY, AND (II) THE USE TAX TO BE IMPOSED ON THE PRIVILEGE OF STORING, USING, OR CONSUMING TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY IN NIWOT, INCLUDING CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS, WITH ALL SUCH TAXES TO BE ESTABLISHED BY ORDINANCE OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE MUNICIPALITY PRIOR TO THE IMPOSITION OF THE SALES AND USE TAX AND CONSISTENT WITH THIS BALLOT MEASURE; AND SHALL NIWOT BE AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT, RETAIN, AND SPEND ALL REVENUES FROM SUCH TAXES AND ALL EARNINGS THEREON AS A VOTER APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE UNDER ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION?
A yes vote means
If voters also approve incorporation under Question 300, authorizes a 2.5% sales and use tax from January 1, 2028, with a sales-tax exemption for food for domestic consumption and authority to exempt other categories. The governing body must establish the tax by ordinance before imposing it.
A no vote means
Rejects the sales and use tax.
Tax Collected at the Delivery Address01
The 2.5% sales and use tax in Issue 302 starts January 1, 2028, with no end date, for the proposed municipality of Niwot; the question states $2,800,000 as the increase in the first full fiscal year and sets no ceiling on what later years raise. It can operate only if voters also approve incorporation under Question 300. The money may fund capital improvements, related operating costs including debt repayment, and any lawful municipal purpose, on terms the new governing body sets by ordinance before collection.
Under Colorado's destination-based rules, the municipal rate reaches purchases delivered to Niwot addresses as well as purchases made in Niwot stores. The Left Hand Valley Courier listed online retail, streaming and cellphone plans among the delivered purchases the new tax covers.
The tax rate now and what this measure adds
Rate
Sales tax Proposed Municipality of Niwot levies now (as of January 1, 2026, DR 1002)
0%
Added by this measure
2.5%
Boulder County ballot, Proposed Municipality of Niwot ballot issue 302
Proposed Niwot Sales and Use Tax
Tax on qualifying purchases at 2.5%.
$1,000 in taxable purchases
$1,000 at 2.5% = $25.00.
Enter the amount subject to this tax. Other taxes and exempt transactions are excluded. This proposal depends on municipal incorporation.
Added tax
Enter a nonnegative dollar amount with no more than two decimal places.
Proposed Municipality of Niwot ballot issue 302: 2.5%.
Purchases the Tax Reaches02
Food for domestic consumption is exempt from the sales tax, and the governing body could exempt other categories. The use tax applies to goods stored, used or consumed in Niwot, and the question names construction and building materials. At a September 2 town hall, Neighbors for Niwot chair Ari Adler said the tax would also apply to new cars residents buy: $1,250 on a $50,000 car.
On Second Avenue and in Cottonwood Square, the municipal tax replaces the Niwot Local Improvement District's 1% tax, which ends at incorporation. THK Associates, in its review of the committee's budget, puts the combined rate a shopper pays at 7.84%, counting state, county, Regional Transportation District and Scientific and Cultural Facilities District taxes.
The Committee's Revenue Forecast03
The committee's pro forma budget, which binds no future council, forecasts $2.185 million from the sales tax and $481,000 from the use tax in 2028. It estimates Niwot's taxable sales at about $80 million in 2025: about $55 million in remote sales delivered into the community and about $25 million in local sales. THK estimated 2028 sales tax revenue at $2.07 million. The budget's use tax forecast leaves out building materials, which this question taxes.
The committee estimates the sales tax at $473 a year for its median-home household.
The Pledge Behind Road Bonds04
Issue 306 authorizes borrowing of up to $15 million for streets, drainage and related work, with repayment capped at $28 million, payable from sales and use tax revenue approved by a separate measure. The Election Commission's summary says that debt depends on this tax passing. The committee's budget models a partial bond payment of about $820,000 in 2029 and about $1.23 million a year after that, on a program financed over about 20 years.
Keeping Revenue Above the State Limit05
The question carries a retention clause under Article X, Section 20 of the state constitution: Niwot could collect, keep and spend all the tax brings in and the earnings on it, as a voter-approved revenue change, whatever happens to Issue 305.
The source is the Niwot incorporation petition and it explicitly requests, pursuant to § 31-2-101(1.5), that a 2.5% sales and use tax question be placed on the ballot.
The Niwot Incorporation Committee’s Taxes & Budget webpage describes a proposed 2.5% Niwot sales and use tax, including modeled revenue and a downtown sales-tax replacement.
The 2026 election is over. Requests for personalized guides closed on November 3, 2026. The full guide remains available to read.
