Colorado localities seek TABOR exemption in 138 of 160 tax, debt questions
Oct 15, 2026 · 7 min · 6 segments
Oct 15, 2026 · 7 min · 6 segments
Of the 257 local ballot questions in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide for the November 3, 2026 election, 160 ask for a tax increase, a tax extension, or new debt.
In 138 of those, about 86%, the government also asks voters to let it keep the new revenue or the earnings on it above the limits of the taxpayer's bill of rights, TABOR.
The guide draws its local questions from 60 counties and carries a recommendation on every one.
Kim Monson said on the October 15 broadcast of The Kim Monson Show that she is voting no on the questions that ask to keep revenue above Tabor's limits.
adding that before the ink was even dry on Tabor in 1992, attorneys and boards were trying to figure out how to get around it.
One of the ways to reclaim Colorado is turn the money spigot off, Monson said, and have them ask, you want a fire truck? Ask for a fire truck.
Tabor caps how much each local government's spending and property tax revenue may grow each year, and the excess shall be refunded in the next fiscal year unless voters approve a revenue change as an offset, according to the text of Article 10, Section 20.
Asking voters for that approval is known as de-bruising, after Tabor author Douglas Bruce and the Colorado Division of Local Government describes it as a broad term that describes a large variety of ballot languages that voters can approve to remove some Tabor spending and revenue limits from a local government.
The two largest requests in the guide both reported in the Kim Monson Newsroom's earlier review of 255 questions on October 2.
Carrier Retention Clause The Front Range Passenger Rail District's Ballot Issue 7A asks to raise taxes $295 million a year and district debt $580 million, with a repayment cost of $785 million.
Colorado Springs School District 11 feats ballot issue 4A asks to increase district debt by $775 million, with a repayment cost of not more than $1.48 billion, and to raise taxes up to $49.8 million a year to repay it.
The two questions added to the guide since then, a mill levy override for Pritchett School District Re3 in Baku County and a lodging tax increase in San Juan County.
16 other questions carry a Tabor retention clause without asking for a new tax or new debt.
In most of the 138 tax and debt questions, the clause covers the new tax and the earnings on it.
Six cover only investment earnings, and at least seven, most of them from fire protection districts, extend the exemption to every dollar the government collects.
Separately, 16 questions in the guide ask voters to waive the 5.25% property tax revenue limit that state law set in 2024 under HB 24B-1001, and 10 of those also carry a Tabor retention clause.
Of the 257 local ballot questions in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide for the November 3, 2026 election, 160 ask for a tax increase, a tax extension, or new debt.
In 138 of those, about 86%, the government also asks voters to let it keep the new revenue or the earnings on it above the limits of the taxpayer's bill of rights, TABOR.
The guide draws its local questions from 60 counties and carries a recommendation on every one.
Kim Monson said on the October 15 broadcast of The Kim Monson Show that she is voting no on the questions that ask to keep revenue above Tabor's limits.
adding that before the ink was even dry on Tabor in 1992, attorneys and boards were trying to figure out how to get around it.
One of the ways to reclaim Colorado is turn the money spigot off, Monson said, and have them ask, you want a fire truck? Ask for a fire truck.
Tabor caps how much each local government's spending and property tax revenue may grow each year, and the excess shall be refunded in the next fiscal year unless voters approve a revenue change as an offset, according to the text of Article 10, Section 20.
Asking voters for that approval is known as de-bruising, after Tabor author Douglas Bruce and the Colorado Division of Local Government describes it as a broad term that describes a large variety of ballot languages that voters can approve to remove some Tabor spending and revenue limits from a local government.
The two largest requests in the guide both reported in the Kim Monson Newsroom's earlier review of 255 questions on October 2.
Carrier Retention Clause The Front Range Passenger Rail District's Ballot Issue 7A asks to raise taxes $295 million a year and district debt $580 million, with a repayment cost of $785 million.
Colorado Springs School District 11 feats ballot issue 4A asks to increase district debt by $775 million, with a repayment cost of not more than $1.48 billion, and to raise taxes up to $49.8 million a year to repay it.
The two questions added to the guide since then, a mill levy override for Pritchett School District Re3 in Baku County and a lodging tax increase in San Juan County.
16 other questions carry a Tabor retention clause without asking for a new tax or new debt.
In most of the 138 tax and debt questions, the clause covers the new tax and the earnings on it.
Six cover only investment earnings, and at least seven, most of them from fire protection districts, extend the exemption to every dollar the government collects.
Separately, 16 questions in the guide ask voters to waive the 5.25% property tax revenue limit that state law set in 2024 under HB 24B-1001, and 10 of those also carry a Tabor retention clause.
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