Council sending two questions to voters

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Two ballot referendums will be decided by Northglenn residents in the November 2023 election.

One of them will ask residents to extend an existing .5% sales tax for capital improvements, such as roads and police operations, without a sunset clause. If voters approve the initiative, taxes won’t change since the tax is already in place and the tax will exist inde nitely unless the council or a future council terminates it.

e other referendums will change the city’s charter to gendersilent language by omitting works like “he” or “councilman” and replacing them with the speci c o ce like “council member.”

For example, the charter currently reads: “ e City Manager shall be the chief administrative o cer of the City. As such, he shall possess,....” at would be changed to “ e City Manager shall be the chief administrative o cer of the City. As such, the City Manager shall possess...”

Sales tax initiative

Both initiatives won consensus from the council to be put on the ballot at the June 5 city council meeting. For the sales tax initiative, the council consensus was to put it on the ballot and omit a sunset clause. e sunset clause was included in past initiatives which required future approval. e tax funds city programs that will last “forever.” In the case it fails, it gives time for sta to think about their options for how to fund programs, or for how to tweak the initiative for the 2024 ballot, he said.

According to the meeting’s agenda, the current tax is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. In 2001, the voters approved the 0.5% sales tax for water supply needs with an expiration in 2009. e tax was extended for six more years in 2008 and again in 2013.

Interim Deputy City Manager Jason Loveland said sta is asking for the question to be put on the 2023 ballot is for planning purposes.

Loveland also said he supported the removal of the sunset clause for planning and to maintain investment.

“Roads aren’t going away,” he said.

City Councilor Rich Kondo said with the increases in property taxes, he’s nervous about the outcome.

City Councilor Nicholas Walker said he objected to the removal of the sunset clause and said voters should be able to vote on the tax in the future. e Charter was written in 1975 and uses predominantly male pronouns. In the 2019 election, voters were asked to amend the language to make the document gender neutral. at failed with 45% voting yes and 55% voting no, a di erence of 745 votes.

City Councilor Katherine Go said that with it being a sales tax, it’s not only Northglenn residents footing the bill. It would be a way for those who use the city’s amenities but don’t live in Northglenn to help contribute.

City Councilor Becky Brown pointed out the question isn’t asking for an increase.

“What we are asking is to continue a process that has been in place, so we are not asking for an increase,” Brown said.

Brown added that it isn’t the council’s job to put things on the ballot just they will pass.

City Councilor Tim Long said the timing is poor with other items on the ballot. He also called for communication from Northglenn to be clear to residents about what’s being asked.

“ is is a di cult time for voters to make decisions on taxes,” Long said. Gender-silent charter Voters will also decide whether or not to make the Charter gender silent. According to the meeting’s agenda, the request for the question came from the strategic planning retreat.

“ e proposed amendment would have eliminated gender-based titles and pronouns that seem to assume only males occupy the positions de ned in the Charter, even though that has not been accurate for many years,” the agenda reads.

City Council approved a measure in 2022 to make their municipal code gender-silent. According to City Attorney Corey Ho man, voters must approve changes to the Charter.

“Our City Charter is an embarrassment. Not only from my perspective as a woman but my perspective as a mentor to other women,” Brown said.

Brown said it was an “interesting time” when it came on the ballot previously and the residents took it the wrong way.

“ is is ridiculous that in 2023 that I read this Charter and I do not associate with it. I’m not a he, I’m not a him, I am a woman who was elected to this o ce,” she said.