Mayor Mike Johnston’s “Affordable Denver” sales tax would add 0.5% to the city’s existing 8.81% effective sales tax rate.
Mayor Mike Johnston, joined by members of the city council and community leaders, announced a new effort to expand affordable housing in Denver on the steps of the City and County Building in Denver, on July 8, 2024. Mayor Johnston hopes voters will pass a 0.5% sales tax increase this fall to fund affordable housing measures.
Monday’s meeting was the first time the full 13-member council considered Johnston’s “Affordable Denver” tax proposal. If referred to voters and passed, it would be the largest dedicated sales tax in Denver’s history, bringing in an estimated $100 million per year. Councilwoman Shontel Lewis introduced an amendment Monday that would have lowered those levels to 80% of AMI and under for rental housing and 100% of AMI and under for ownership-focused work. The amendment would have allowed those levels to “float” upward to 100% of AMI based on market needs.
The amendment may come back in refined form next week. Gonzales-Gutierrez joined Kashman in voting for the fill referral measure on Monday while expressing dissatisfaction with the 80% AMI figure not being written into the legislation. Despite those concerns, that amendment passed 10 to 3 with only members Amanda Sandoval, Amanda Sawyer and Darrell Watson voting no.
In the closest vote of the night, that amendment failed 7-6 with Torres, Sawyer, Kevin Flynn, Stacie Gilmore and Chris Hinds joining Alvidrez on the losing end. Affordable housing developers lined up in support of the measure as did the local wing of the Service Employees International Union. But True Apodaca, SEIU’s local political director, mentioned that he was very disappointed that the 80% AMI threshold was not written into the language.
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