On Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at 7 p.m. the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) met for a scheduled work session to discuss potential revenue sources to help fund the Town’s services and infrastructure. An unscheduled discussion on what is required to save the Nederland Police Department (NPD) commenced over the last hour of the meeting.

The conversation of the crisis facing the NPD was meant to continue toward an actionable result on Tuesday, August 2, at a scheduled BOT meeting. Unfortunately the BOT did not meet due to the lack of a quorum, with three of the five Trustees absent.

Mayor Pro Tem Tom Mahowald, after calling the roll and realizing they did not meet quorum requirements, adjourned the meeting and postponed it to Thursday, August 4 at 7 p.m.

On July 26, Town Administrator Miranda Fisher and Town Attorney Jennifer Madsen led the BOT through the options available to a statutory town for potential revenue sources. The options of raising existing taxes, such as Sales and Property taxes, and instituting new taxes, such as an Occupation Tax or a town-specific Special Retail Marijuana Sales Tax, require ballot language to be written for the November 8, 2022, election.

Retail marijuana is currently subject to Nederland’s 8.985% sales tax, as well as a 15% sales tax imposed by the state, with 10% of that collected tax being returned to Nederland. The Town of Nederland does not collect its own Special Retail Marijuana Sales Tax, while neighboring municipalities such as Central City and Winter Park collect 5%, and Lafayette and Manitou Springs collect 10%.

With the projected marijuana sales for Nederland reaching $2,333,333, a 10% Special Retail Marijuana Sales Tax would provide an annual revenue increase of $233,333, on top of the

35,000 revenue from the state’s retail sales tax on marijuana.

Nederland currently charges an Occupation Tax on Short Term Rentals (STR), a $2.00 per day charge per occupied bedroom, which amounts to an estimated $35,000 annual revenue. As of July, 2022, Nederland has 37 registered STRs that span across four different licensing types which limits the rental timespan based on the zone where the property lies.

The BOT felt that increasing the Occupation Tax on STRs by $2 or $4 doesn’t amount to enough of a revenue increase to be worth pursuing. An Occupation Tax, which would tax employers and employees a fixed fee for conducting business within Nederland, was also deemed to not be an adequate revenue source by the BOT.

The total Sales Tax assessed in Nederland is 8.985%, divided so that 4.0% goes to the town of Nederland, including .25% to road repairs, .985% to Boulder County, 2.9% to the state of Colorado, and 1.1% to RTD and other districts.

Total Sales Tax revenue for 2022 is projected at $1,981,047, which includes the $35,000 from marijuana sales, with $121,469 going to Streets, $242,939 going to both Sewer and Water, and $364,408 going to the Nederland Community Center. This leaves $1,009,292 from 2022 sales tax revenue going to the General Fund, which funds Health and Human Services as well as the NPD.

Raising the Sales Tax by a quarter of a percent equals approximately $125,000 in revenue to the Town, while a full 1% increase equals $500,000 dollars.

Nederland Downtown Development Authority (NDDA) Chair Barbara Hardt was asked by the BOT if the NDDA could survey local business owners to get a pulse in the community regarding the concept of raising the Sales Tax. Hardt agreed to roll out the survey, though warned that raising the Sales Tax may harm niche businesses and cause customers to shop online or outside of Nederland.

Trustee Jonathan Baumhover mentioned that those who shop at niche stores do so for the experience as a customer and for the expertise of staff, and are willing to pay higher prices for quality service. He also noted that Nederland makes most of its Sales Tax revenue from restaurant and bar sales, and that the substantial increase in revenue is enough to consider raising the Sales Tax despite how specialty businesses may suffer.

Revenue to Nederland from Property Taxes for 2022 is projected at $749,000, with the assessed valuation of property at $35,551,449 and the effective mill levy at 17.274. A 5-mill increase would amount to a $177,000 increase in Property Tax revenue to the Town.

Trustees weren’t necessarily in favor of including the question of increasing Property Taxes on the November ballot due to how it may affect the senior homeowners of Nederland. They wished to see information on tax exemption for seniors, as well as ballot language moving forward.

The BOT has until September 9 to approve the ballot language on these tax initiatives for the November 8 election ballot. Boulder County will be handling the distribution of the ballots between September 24 and October 7. Madsen noted that the time frame for public outreach on these tax initiatives ends once the ballot language has been set and sent to Boulder County.

Trustees discussed a desire to be direct and open in the ballot language to show full transparency to the voting public as to what the tax revenue will be funding. Trustee Baumhover felt strongly against “sugar-coating” the issues to voters and to instead state in the ballot language the truth of the crises facing Nederland, such as badly needed infrastructure projects and pay increases for Town Staff.

Madsen mentioned to Trustees that there is not much room in the ballot language to include complex details on the resolutions being voted on, and advised the BOT to consider separating questions of taxes on the ballot rather than grouping them. Madsen also noted that earmarking the funds in the 2023 town budget will show the BOT’s intent for the tax revenue.

The BOT directed Town Staff to draft ballot language on instituting a Special Retail Marijuana Sales Tax, and on raising Nederland’s Property and Sales taxes.

The BOT shifted their discussion with a renewed focus on how to alleviate the current crisis with recruiting and retaining officers in the NPD. Marshal Jennifer Fine-Loven reiterated to the BOT that, despite a hypothetical “blank check” from Town to raise officer wages in an emergency effort to immediately incentivize recruitment, recruiting and retaining officers will remain incredibly difficult without a promise of long-term funding and support for the NPD.

Currently Fine-Loven is working 14 hour shifts as the only full-time, fully trained NPD officer left on staff. Town Staff has attempted to be more aggressive in the recruitment process by raising wages for new hires and advertising for a Sergeant position, which, if filled, would cover many of Fine-Loven’s duties, including training new deputies. However, Fine-Loven has been unable to secure laterals (trained officers transferred from another department) or new recruits, even with the positions offered at the higher rate.

Fine-Loven and Fisher explained to the BOT that the NPD still isn’t seeing eligible recruits mostly due to the future of the department being in question. Even if they were able to hire, it would take a minimum of six to eight weeks to get a new recruit through the door. Fine-Loven also mentioned a state-wide decrease in recruitment even at departments offering $70,000 for deputies, with $10,000 to $15,000 hiring bonuses.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Department (BCSO) occasionally sends officers to fill extra shift requests. The current contract between the Town and BCSO specifies eight hours of coverage during the overnight shift and cannot be changed to create coverage during the day.

If the NPD were to close its doors it would take BCSO three months to staff Nederland with a Sergeant and six months to staff a Deputy as part of a new 24-hour contract with the Town, while only responding to priority one calls (immediate threats to life, felony in progress, or use of a weapon) in the interim. However, this time frame coincides with the November 8 election and the vote for tax initiatives which could fund the NPD, at least through 2023. Marshal Fine-Loven, however, cannot be expected to work 14 hour shifts continuously until then.

Fine-Loven and Fisher warned the BOT that this crisis isn’t just an issue of the more than $1.2 million needed for the NPD in 2023, but is an issue of a promise or commitment from the BOT to continue funding long-term. They also noted that the crisis of the NPD is the same crisis other Nederland departments and services are experiencing, including the Fire Department, Parks, Streets, and Utilities departments.

Trustees desired to hear from the BCSO Division Chiefs for clarification on the specific coverage Nederland would receive if they were to “throw in the towel” on the NPD. Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail delivered a “dream scenario” to the Board, suggesting that the Town should commit to going into debt for one year, paying the double- pay rate for BCSO to cover shifts while utilizing reserve funds to continue attempting to recruit to the NPD. Baumhover suggested capping Fine- Loven’s hours at 40 hours a week.

The BOT reached an impasse in their discussion, with Trustees growing increasingly frustrated at the prospect of being without a sustainable police department, and with only limited from BCSO, until the November election when the funds needed to save the NPD will be voted on.

Fine-Loven remained adamant that without a promise of a future for the NPD, eligible recruits will continue to look elsewhere for jobs. Trustee Coombs-Esmail voiced that the BOT cannot promise funding that is contingent on initiatives to be voted on in a public election.

Coombs-Esmail also expressed a feeling of the BOT being forced into an impossible situation due to negligence in the precision and transparency of the guidance and information provided to Trustees by former Town Staff. He also urged current Town Staff not to let fear of public backlash on particular issues be the mitigating factor on how and when guidance and information is provided to the BOT.

Fisher noted that those former members of Town Staff who may have made statements or provided guidance to the BOT indicating that there was no crisis in the NPD at that time, were not currently present for the meeting. Fisher also mentioned that former Town Staff and Trustees may have voted based on the narrative of the time, referring to nationwide political tumult in 2019 and 2020.

The Nederland Board of Trustees meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month. However, the Tuesday, August 2, 2022, meeting was moved to August 4, so quorum could be met. A full article covering the extent of the Thursday, August 4 BOT meeting will be available in the Thursday, August 11 edition of The Mountain-Ear.

Their next regularly scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, August 16, at 7 p.m. and can now be attended online or in person at the Nederland Community Center. For more information go to: https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/ board-of-trustees