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Department of Finance
Reference: Use Tax Ballot Question
To: Mayor Richard N. McLean and Members of City Council
Through: Clint Blackhurst, Acting City Manager
Prepared By: Jean Starr, Finance Director
Date Prepared: August 10, 2017
PURPOSE
To approve a resolution authorizing the referral of a TABOR ballot question to the voters of the City of Brighton on November 7th regarding the City's use tax, by expanding the transactions to which the use tax would apply. The ballot question authorizes the City to levy a general use tax of three and three-quarter percent (3.75%), commencing January 1, 2018.
Recognizing that the bulk of the revenue that will be generated from the expanded use tax will come from new businesses, the City Council intends to focus its resources there and enact the necessary legislation to impose the use tax ONLY on businesses that purchase new equipment, furnishings, machinery, fixtures and other personal property
By all accounts, the City of Brighton is growing at a fast pace. In order to provide the services residents have come to expect, and even expand services in the future, the City has explored additional revenue sources. With the potential national trend that sales tax revenues may be decreasing in the future, the City believes that expanding its existing use tax will not only bring in much needed revenue, but also put Brighton in a comparable position with other cities in the metro area. Without this additional revenue, the City could be faced with the difficult decision to reduce services.
BACKGROUND
Brighton History on Use Tax
The voters of the City of Brighton ("City") adopted the Home Rule City Charter on June 27, 2000. Subsequently, Ordinance 1764 was passed to adopt Municipal Code Articles 28 and 32 on December 14, 2002, amending Sections 3-28 and 3-32 of the Brighton Municipal Code to accommodate the City collecting, administering and enforcing its own sales tax on retail sales and its own use tax on cons...
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