Denver’s planned $550 million bond package and a $27 million tax increase for infrastructure will have to be divided into eight questions on the November ballot, raising concern among City Council members that the projects will be pitted against one another.
That scenario already had one council member referring to a grouping for cultural projects as expendable “icing” when the plan was presented to City Council Wednesday.
The eight separate questions are required by Colorado case law. On top of that, the city’s bonding capacity will further complicate the questions. If any of the bond groupings that cost $70 million or more were to fail at the polls, the city’s property-tax rate would remain the same as it is now. If all pass, the tax rate will rise to pay for the cost of the bonds.
Regardless, if voters approve the one question increasing the tax rate to pay for maintenance of all the proposed new projects, the city’s rate will rise.
It all worried officials hoping to pass the full plan.
“I don’t mind saying, I’m very concerned,” Councilman Rick Garcia said.
Mayor John Hickenlooper released his plan for a bond issue and a 2.5-mill property-tax increase Wednesday after working with a task force for more than a year. Council members praised the package overall.
But because the scope includes such varied projects as transportation, libraries, recreation centers and cultural facilities, by law they must be placed in eight subgroups on the ballot instead of a single bond issue.
If approved by the council, voters will see eight questions: seven questions on groups of projects to be funded through a single bond and one question on a property-tax increase to raise $27 million annually (or about $49.25 a year for the median home) for maintenance.
The confusion comes in the amount of bonding capacity the city can handle without a tax increase. The city could conceivably issue $480 million in bonds over 20 years without increasing the property-tax rate Denver residents pay.
So the tax rate would remain the same if voters approved six of the bond groups but voted down either a $70 million grouping to restore buildings, a $93 million grouping for parks and recreation, a $150 million group for public works, or a $70 million group for cultural facilities.
Clever voters may understand that and choose not to approve one of the groups to keep their taxes at the current rate. Some council members quickly feared that voters would target the cultural projects, the last grouping listed on the ballot.
“I guess I am a little surprised,” Councilwoman Jeanne Robb said, “to see it included as a package of a $12.54 tax increase on the average house when really you could get all of the first (six) without a tax increase.”
Councilman Chris Nevitt referred to the property-tax increase as “the plate,” the first six bond groups as “the cake” and the cultural facilities as “the icing.”
The Denver director of theaters and arenas disagreed with characterizing the cultural facilities as “icing.” “The entire package is really critical.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
Project groupings
Denver voters are likely to see these eight project groupings as questions on the November ballot.
1. 2.5-mill increase for maintenance – $27 million
2. Refurbishing city buildings – $70.9 million
3. Health and human services – $48.6 million
4. Parks and recreation centers – $93.4 million
5. Public safety – $65.2 million
6. Streets, transportation and public works – $149.8 million
7. Libraries – $51.9 million
8. Cultural facilities – $70 million
