Carbondale will move to state-collected sales tax effective Jan. 1, the board of trustees decided in a unanimous vote on Nov. 28.
The change, which reverses the town’s move to self-collected sales tax in 2006, means businesses will no longer have to obtain a sales tax license from the town of Carbondale and eliminates a vendor fee for general sales tax and marijuana sales tax. It is at least partially in response to Colorado House Bill 19-1240, which expanded tax requirements to vendors without a physical place of business, increasing returns and thus administration costs.
Trustees and staff hope that the new approach will not only streamline the process, but may uncover some previously overlooked revenue streams. It’s not a complete fix, Mayor Ben Bohmfalk pointed out, as some taxes (like those on lodging, tobacco, marijuana and waste) would still need to be collected locally.
“It creates these nice little revenue streams that don’t feel like they cost everybody anything — they’re unique user groups,” he observed, “but it does complicate things.”
Taxation was just one of several fiscally-oriented action items on the docket, while the influx of unhoused Venezuelan migrants looming large in off-agenda discussion.
Dave Johnson of the Crystal Fly Shop shared a public comment suggesting that those living under Veterans Memorial Bridge be required to clean up the trash before receiving further public support. Although the format didn’t provide for an immediate response from the board, both Trustee Colin Laird and Town Manager Lauren Gister used their own comments to acknowledge that trash is among the issues the municipality is working to address. The board opted to schedule a special meeting for Dec. 5 to keep track of the situation.
In other trustee comments, Marty Silverstein expressed his disappointment in a second occurrence of swastika graffiti in the schools, and particularly the fact that it made the newspaper before trustees were notified. Erica Sparhawk shared her positive impression of Xcel Energy’s plan to be 80% carbon neutral by 2030.
Anticipating next meeting’s budget discussion, Lani Kitching advocated flexibility in the allocation of $200,000 for a six-month Downtowner shuttle service pilot program, citing other priorities in the event of a funding shortfall. The board opted to keep it in the budget, with Sparhawk and Silverstein pointing out strong reserves and Laird emphasizing the value of the program in addition to existing transit.
“We all know that the current circulator doesn’t really do all that much. It comes downtown, it goes back out to the park and ride and that’s kind of it,” he observed. “WeCycle’s amazing, but riding your bike with bags of groceries in the snow is not that much fun. This could offer a lot of people — our seniors, our visitors — a chance to get around our town.”
Next, the board unanimously approved tweaks to the fee schedule. Bohmfalk specifically highlighted some increases in planning fees, which weren’t covering cost. Trustee Chris Hassig also advocated for eventually moving the building fees from the code itself to the schedule to make it easier to modify.
Trustees also supported staff’s recommendation to grant an improvement extension to Central Self-Storage, currently under construction on the north side of town. When the annexation and development was originally approved in 2020, it came with the stipulation that public improvements be completed by Nov. 10, 2022 — later extended to 2023 — and private improvements by Nov. 10, 2023. The request asked both deadlines be pushed to Aug. 10, 2024. Bohmfalk expressed hopes that the bike path be open as soon as possible, though it will likely have to wait until at least May.
The meeting wrapped up with a work session on inclusionary zoning. Planning Director Jared Barnes presented the results of a survey of other communities, prompted by the adoption of the town’s Community Housing Plan earlier this year. Currently, Carbondale mirrors other municipalities in requiring price caps and resident occupancy for large residential housing projects, but the exact figures vary. After some discussion, the board instructed staff to begin the public process to increase requirements and reduce thresholds.