Two affordable housing ballot measures are on the ballot this November in Chaffee County. Both of these measures fall under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, part of Article X of the Colorado Constitution. TABOR requires state and local governments entities to do three things:

 

1. To seek voter approval prior to issuing debt or raising taxes.

2. To seek voter approval to retain certain state and local government monies above the annual revenue limit.

3. To create a reserve equal to 3% of fiscal year spending, excluding debt service.  

 

The first ballot measure, 6A, is seeking voter approval for a 0.5% tax increase to create a 12-year dedicated fund for the construction and development of affordable housing managed by the Chaffee Housing Authority. Read more about the CHA plans for investing this revenue in a new Housing Impact Fund here. The draft 2025 CHA Budget will be available for review here on October 15. 

 

The second ballot measure, 6B, is seeking voter approval to permit the CHA to retain Colorado state and intergovernmental grants, contributions, and loans above the annual revenue limit. The annual revenue limit is based on a formula that is based on the previous year’s actual revenue, population growth, plus inflation. If the CHA were to receive revenue above the annual limit, it must be returned to the government agency that provided the funding at the end of each year. The CHA began as a small one person office, which based on this formula, will limit the CHA total budget for operations and housing investment to under $300,000 annually for years.  

 

As part of the Colorado Constitution, state and local governments do not have the authority to bypass TABOR. 6A and 6B comply with TABOR by providing local residents the authority to decide the outcome of each measure through their vote.