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Boulder taxpayers have supported the city’s climate work for decades, contributing about $4 million annually to climate and sustainability programs. Early next year, a portion of this funding is set to expire, creating a gap in funding.
To close this gap, the city is proposing the creation of a new climate tax. As designed, the new climate tax would raise approximately $6.5 million per year to fund climate and resilience efforts. If approved by council, the climate tax would require voter approval in the November election.
Boulder taxpayers have supported the city’s climate work for decades, contributing about $4 million annually to climate and sustainability programs. Early next year, a portion of this funding is set to expire, creating a gap in funding.
To close this gap, the city is proposing the creation of a new climate tax. As designed, the new climate tax would raise approximately $6.5 million per year to fund climate and resilience efforts. If approved by council, the climate tax would require voter approval in the November election.
Funding Proposal: New Climate Tax
By creating a new climate tax, the city can simplify climate investments, tackle high-impact projects, better align with the scale of investment necessary and address inequities created by the current tax.
Tax Proposal Details
Note: Details subject to City Council changes.
New climate tax to be collected 2023 to 2040
Replace existing taxes that fund climate work
Fund climate and wildfire resilience projects
Continue to collect tax on Xcel Energy utility bills
Raise revenues by approximately 6.5 million per year
Change rates for customer classes
Proposed Changes to Average Annual Costs, By Customer Type
Customer Type
Current Annual Cost (CAP + UOT)
Proposed Annual Cost (Climate Tax)
Residential
$42.95
$49.66
Commercial
$292.42
$487.37
Industrial
$1,084.11
$1,806.85
Total Revenue for Climate Efforts
$3.9 million
$6.5 million
What would it fund?
If approved, revenues from this tax would support ongoing and new climate and resilience projects. Those could include:
Direct cash assistance to homeowners, landlords and businesses to fund energy efficiency upgrades
Projects such as microgrids and energy storage to support resilience and renewable energy development
Residential and commercial building electrification
Expansion of transportation electrification projects and electric vehicle charging stations; and
Advancement of natural climate solutions.
Wildfire resilience projects could include:
Funding for a dedicated fire risk assessment team;
Grants to support residential wildfire risk prevention measures like vegetation management, fence reconstruction and roofing/siding replacement;
The city is committed to transparency on this project. When you submit a comment, it will be sent automatically to the staff team. Your comment will then be reviewed by Be Heard Boulder to determine whether it meets our online community guidelines. If it does, the comment will be added to this public-facing site.
For brevity in this platform, we have limited comments to 350 characters. If you have more you would like to say, please feel free to email us directly(External link).
Questions to consider in commenting: What information do you need more of to be an informed voter? What do you like about the proposal? What's missing?
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I am strongly in favor of a tax that supports low-income families, and organizations that do mitigation, e.g. Wildfire Partners. Low-income families need help with mitigation, so this program should have some slots for low-income families that allow the tax to be used both for evaluation, and mitigation.
Also, the City should encourage homeowners to install white roofs, a city-cooling feature. I installed a white PVC roof on my house 20+ years ago, and the benefit is obvious: intense heat does not penetrate into the house as quickly as it would with a dark roof.
ERA
14 days ago
I read the article in the Daily Camera on Sunday, July 17, 2022. I have an additional suggestion for the list of climate projects: require green roofs for commercial buildings and support them with grants for residential buildings.
I am strongly in favor of a tax that supports low-income families, and organizations that do mitigation, e.g. Wildfire Partners. Low-income families need help with mitigation, so this program should have some slots for low-income families that allow the tax to be used both for evaluation, and mitigation.
Also, the City should encourage homeowners to install white roofs, a city-cooling feature. I installed a white PVC roof on my house 20+ years ago, and the benefit is obvious: intense heat does not penetrate into the house as quickly as it would with a dark roof.
I read the article in the Daily Camera on Sunday, July 17, 2022. I have an additional suggestion for the list of climate projects: require green roofs for commercial buildings and support them with grants for residential buildings.