City Uses Budget Presentation to Push TABOR Retention

The 2025 budget presentation included a sales pitch to keep your TABOR refunds. Each department made note of which projects would be funded by TABOR and made a simple statement along the lines of “Without the additional TABOR revenues, the city will have less revenue.” Lakewood’s Chief Financial Officer, Holly Bjorklund, dedicated extra slides detailing how TABOR retained tax funds were used, by the specific project and by the department, to make an impressive list of accomplishments. Staff did not note which projects would go away if sales tax revenue decreased. There was no note detailing ways to increase sales tax revenues through economic development. No Council Member asked to spend less.

TABOR retained funds accounts for 1.23% of all funds. In contrast, sales tax is the biggest source of revenue at 41%. Sales tax is also used for parks and police and all other city functions. It would be normal to focus on the bigger percentage of funds to present a clear budget picture. Instead, Lakewood focused on the single-digit, smaller source of funds. Coincidentally, Lakewood initiated a ballot vote to retain these funds permanently into the future.

TABOR is the most mentioned fund but among the least significant.

All this focus on TABOR by the city is to influence the upcoming vote that the city sponsored. If you have any doubts about Lakewood influencing your vote, see the list of TABOR-funded projects that the city has thoughtfully provided on its website.

On October 7, City Council will vote on a resolution to urge residents to give up their TABOR refunds forever. This action comes after Council Member Olver was not allowed to print additional facts on the issue at all. It appears as if Lakewood is only presenting one side of the issue.

There would be no need to focus on one, little, over-collected fund if the city would:

• Spend within budget limits
• Maintain a balance between residential service expenditures and incoming revenues
• Maintain business growth to residential growth proportions

Note the jump in retained TABOR fund in 2017, coincident with the city’s ability to retain. “Through the ballot measure in 2018, Lakewood voters approved lifting the TABOR limits on the city’s budget from 2017 through 2025” – Lakewood 2025 Budget Book