Boulder County adoptsAffordable and Attainable Housing tax resolution, creates regional advisory committee

The Boulder County Board of County Commissioners on May 27, 2025, voted to amend and approve Resolution 2025-25 to implement the Affordable and Attainable Housing (AHT) capital distribution approved by voters in the 2024 budget process.

The resolution establishes the AHT advisory committee, clarifies eligible uses of funds and delegates certain allocation authority to the Department of Housing director. Commissioner Susanna Lopez Baker led discussion of wording and consistency with ballot language; April Gatesman, assistant county attorney, advised on grammar and legal phrasing. The board approved an on-the-record amendment to the resolution and then approved the resolution as amended.

The commission amended language in three areas to align with prior public messaging: restoring a reference to “related housing support services” in the resolution recitals, adjusting a reference to the “cost of development” so the phrase better matched public materials, and correcting a grammatical tense in the delegation clause from “delegate” to “delegated.” The board also instructed staff to insert the word “creation” in Article 2, letter B of the committee bylaws to ensure the committee’s purpose reads as “creation, development and preservation” of housing rather than implying development only meant new construction.

The bylaws identify the advisory committee membership as the city or town managers (or designees) of the seven jurisdictions that work with Boulder County; the cities of Boulder and Longmont will be invited to sit as nonvoting members. Staff said the bylaws were modeled on other county advisory committees and were reviewed with the commissioners’ office.

Commissioners discussed process questions the resolution text raises for fiscal year alignment. The resolution includes language explaining that this initial round of allocations is being made outside the usual county budget cycle because of timing; staff and the county administrator confirmed the intent is that future annual allocations will be made within the normal budget process. The county attorney said that clarification was added at the county administrator’s request to describe why the initial allocations were handled now and to signal the board’s intent that future allocations be included in the annual budget process.

Board members also asked about criteria referenced elsewhere in the packet: staff said the detailed allocation criteria (including timelines for use of awarded capital funds) are set out in separate criteria documents rather than the resolution or bylaws. Staff noted the criteria include a requirement that capital project funds be used within 24 months unless otherwise specified in the award documents.

After airing these edits and questions from the dais, a commissioner moved to amend the resolution to implement the wording changes described above. The board voted in favor of the amendment and then voted to approve Resolution 2025-25 as amended. The motion passed with affirmative votes recorded as “Aye.”

The county will make the criteria and project attachment lists available online; staff said they will update attachment headings to show the lists reflect 2025 projects. Commissioners also asked staff to verify that meeting minutes and recordings will capture votes and that bylaws language on minutes aligns with county practice.

Why it matters: the AHT tax creates a recurring local capital funding source intended to support affordable and attainable housing projects and related services in Boulder County. The resolution and bylaws set the initial governance and allocation steps for distributing funds to projects across the county and partner jurisdictions.