Greeley residents will not see any tax increases on the ballot this November, as the city council has decided not to add any of the four proposed increases to the ballot due to lackluster polling.
Over the past few months, the city council has debated four ballot proposals that would have increased the sales tax by 0.5%, resulting in an increase in city revenue of $12 million to $14 million.
There were initially only three proposals: a public safety tax, an economic development tax and a housing and homelessness solutions tax. City officials considered a fourth proposal that combined the public safety and the housing and homelessness funding under one tax. But the combined measure would not provide effective funds compared to each tax on its own, reducing council members’ interest in the proposal.
“What it came down to for me is needs and wants, and we have a lot of needs in public safety just to get us right up above water,” Councilwoman Melissa McDonald said. “When it comes to housing and homelessness, the combined effort doesn’t even touch housing. It’s just homeless. So for a department that has been 70% funded by federal dollars, I think it is more of a want than a need, and we should figure out where to find that in our budget.”
The measure also polled below the acceptable threshold in a recent survey conducted by Aspect Strategic. A poll of 600 Greeley residents found that the combined measure received the highest support at 56%, but according to Alex Dunn, a representative from Aspect Strategic, a majority of that percentage consisted of people who only somewhat approved of the tax.
When removing what Dunn referred to as “leaners,” the proposal only had the support of 22% of those polled. A similar picture is painted even when the two measures were polled separately, with neither measure getting more than 30% support.
Councilman Brett Payton asked Dunn about last year’s polling, specifically referring to the food tax that was passed with 63% of the vote, despite polling at 57%, and whether a similar result could be achieved this year. Dunn said such an occurrence was anomalous when compared to traditional polling results and that, from his experience, the percentage from initial polling to the ballot, especially for food tax-related measures, typically doesn’t increase.
“As for why it came back around, I think part of it is because these were tax-neutral measures,” Dunn said. “We almost never see increases between polling and election-day results on tax increases. But on tax neutral measures, sometimes we see folks coming back who are feeling conflicted from a values perspective, but also not sure if they wanted to approve the tax again, then feeling like, ‘OK, I can keep this thing out because it’s not a tax increase.’ ”
Unlike the 2024 ballot items, all of the proposed ballot items would have increased the sales tax by half a percent. So even with an otherwise uncrowded ballot, Dunn could not confidently say they could get the same outcome, much to Butler’s frustration.
“I think when we look at our budget this next year, we desperately need this,” Butler said. “I’m frustrated that I know that we desperately need these things, and they might not pass on this year’s ballot. Ultimately, it is a decision of the people. It’s just frustrating having nothing on the ballot.”
Despite his absence on Tuesday, Councilman Johnny Olsons’ wishes, which were relayed to Mayor John Gates before the meeting, were heard when the council had to break a tie on the combined measure. According to Gates, Olson didn’t have a desire to bring any of the proposals to the ballot.
Though the council declined to send the increases to the ballot this November, Payton noted several aspects within each proposal could stand on their own. It will be up to next year’s council to decide how to present them to get approval from residents, he said.
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