By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado
The Lakewood City Council in August referred a measure to the November 5 ballot asking voters to permanently eliminate revenue limitations in place under the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). Despite some complicated ballot wording, a yes vote on the measure boils down to an end to refunds of taxes over-collected by the city for good starting in 2026.
TABOR is a constitutional amendment that, among other things, limits the growth of local government spending to a reasonable annual rate based on inflation and local economic growth. Excess revenue must be returned to taxpayers unless voters give permission to exceed those limits. The Lakewood measure would allow city government to keep and spend revenue that would otherwise be refunded in perpetuity.
But according to Lakewood resident Natalie Menten, the city has paid $65,000 to a political strategy firm in an effort to word the ballot question in an intentionally misleading way.