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Survey shows solid support for proposed sales-tax ballot measure; staff and underwriters outline limited debt capacity
Summary
A Magellan Strategies poll found initial support for tested ballot language at 64%, rising to 71% after voters hear project details. City staff and Piper Sandler outlined financing options (COPs vs. sales-tax bonds) and warned that current market conditions limit borrowing capacity, prompting council to ask for more scenarios before finalizing ballot language.
A new, statistically valid survey presented to Wheat Ridge City Council on July 27 found that 64% of likely voters initially supported a tested sales-tax ballot question and that support increased to 71% after respondents learned details about projects the tax would fund. "Initial support's at 64% ... After the respondents learn more about the projects and why this is being considered, it increases all the way to 71%," Ryan Winger of Magellan Strategies told the council.
City staff framed the presentation as the culmination of nearly two years of planning and community engagement and said the community had identified priorities including streets and sidewalks, parks and open space, Anderson Pool, a civic center, and facilities for police and public works. "Our general funds simply cannot absorb these investments while maintaining the level of services our residents expect," staff said in the study-session introduction.
Financial adviser Andrew Ma of Piper Sandler explained the principal financing options on the table and the differing borrowing capacity under each. "Based on today's interest rates, a 1% sales and use tax could support up to $151,000,000 of certificates of participation (COPs)," he said, noting that sales-tax revenue bonds would yield materially lower capacity — about $121,000,000 under the same 1% scenario — because they require higher debt-service coverage ratios. Ma also warned that market conditions since the city's earlier bond issuance have reduced capacity compared with spring estimates.
Councilors asked several technical and strategic questions, including whether the city would issue COPs or sales tax bonds, the assumed annual revenue for a 1% tax (staff used an initial estimate of about $11.3 million), and the effect of competing sales-tax questions on the same ballot. Pollster Winger said core infrastructure messages — streets, sidewalks and park preservation — were the strongest drivers of voter support, while opponents most often cited cost-of-living concerns and objections to bundling multiple projects in a single measure.
The council asked staff and the consultants to run additional scenarios (including phased issuance, conservative higher-rate assumptions, and higher-percentage tax options) and to return with refined numbers and proposed ballot language at a follow-up session. No formal decision or ballot ordinance was adopted on July 27.
