Wheat Ridge One-Cent Sales and Use Tax for Capital Projects

The Wheat Ridge City Council referred Issue 2A in Ordinance No. 1849, adopted 8 to 0 on August 24, 2026. A yes vote raises the city sales and use tax from 3.5% to 4.5% starting January 1, 2027. The city's 3.5% sits beside Jefferson County's 0.5%, the state's 2.9%, the Regional Transportation District's 1% and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District's 0.1% in DR 1002, the Colorado Department of Revenue's January 2026 rate table. Added together, those rows come to 8% on a taxable sale; with 2A's 1%, the total would be 9%.

The question raises taxes by up to $11,700,000 in the first full fiscal year and by whatever the tax brings in after that, with no end date. A yes vote also lets the city collect, keep and spend all of the revenue as an exception to the limits of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and any other law. In Jefferson County's TABOR notice, the city estimates its 2027 fiscal year spending without the increase at $91,749,390.

Uses named in the question include proactive street and infrastructure maintenance, bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements, preservation of community spaces at the Wilmore Davis and Kullerstrand elementary schools, replacement of the Anderson Park outdoor pool, and modern police and city services facilities, along with their operation and maintenance. At Wilmore Davis, the city intends to buy the former school from Jefferson County Public Schools, keep about 2.5 acres for park and recreation use, and sell the building and the rest of the site to Spectra Centers.

A debt capacity analysis by Piper Sandler, cited in the August 10 staff report on the ordinance, estimated that the tax could provide about $236 million in capital funding over the next decade, through several issues of certificates of participation and revenue accumulated over time. The analysis found that the first financing could fund projects including a new City Hall, the new pool and preservation of the former school properties.

The staff report says certificates of participation give more borrowing capacity than sales tax revenue bonds and "may be issued without separate voter authorization after approval of the sales tax measure." At the July 27 study session, Piper Sandler estimated capacity under a one-cent tax at about $151 million through certificates and about $121 million through revenue bonds, which require voter authorization.

Wheat Ridge voters first approved a temporary half-cent sales tax in 2016 and extended it for 20 years in 2023, as Issue 2J, to address roadways, sidewalk connectivity and drainage, according to the city's 2025 financial statements. In October 2024 the city issued $34,845,000 in sales and use tax bonds, with principal due through 2043, and plans a second round in 2027 or 2028.