Bruno reveals support for tax sharing, but first wants to get house in order

Boulder City Manager Frank Bruno, in a speech before the Boulder Chamber’s annual dinner Feb. 5, told business leaders “We need to tackle revenue-sharing solutions in the future.”

Bruno’s statements, his first public announcement to my knowledge that he’d at least like to discuss regional tax sharing, came shortly before Boulder’s disappointing 2003 year-end sales and use retail tax numbers were released — revealing a drop to $67.7 million, down from $71.3 million in 2002. Boulder’s tax receipts now have fallen for 33 months straight.

At the dinner, Bruno jokingly showed a staged photo of himself acting like he was caught by surprise visiting Broomfield’s FlatIron Crossing mall. But his point was well made. Bringing up tax sharing now, after Broomfield evolved to its own county and new revenues are surging into its coffers, might seem a bit Boulder-centric to others across the Boulder Valley.

Bruno reminded the audience that Westcor is moving ahead on the Crossroads Mall redevelopment, and the city has approved new retail projects like Uptown Broadway, where some 35,000 square feet of commercial space is being leased. A new hotel is coming, and One Boulder Plaza is progressing with new leases downtown.

Not too long from now, Bruno said, people will be driving into Boulder to shop, saying, “This is the new thing.”

But “We can do better than that,” he said. Rather than continue “the endless pursuit of sales taxes,” Bruno insists it’s worth everyone’s time to think about alternatives.

We heard this debate before in the mid-’90s when then Chamber President Tom Clark espoused a regional sales tax plan, speaking publicly before area councils and leading businesses.

Clark, now executive vice president of economic development for the Metro Denver Chamber, says, “We do already have regional tax sharing — it’s called the Stadium District, the SCFD (the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District) those are all examples of regional tax sharing. RTD is a good example, and Boulder has been a huge beneficiary beyond its contribution.”

For cities actually to share sales taxes, however, Clark believes you need a “reasonably self-contained” market, adding, “the only one in the region that is like that is Boulder County, and that’s why we proposed it back in 1995.”

Clark never achieved a formal vote by any area government on his idea. “It really is a question of political will,” he says. “The rest of it really is only an accounting challenge.

“Sometimes, you might decide to take a short-term hit for a long-term gain. And that’s a difficult leader to find.”

Around the country, there are examples to study. None have been accomplished without political fights, and some critics still are unhappy even today.

” In the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, a “fiscal disparities” program redistributes growth in the commercial-industrial tax base within a seven-county metro area. Enacted in 1971, 40 percent of the growth in this tax base is contributed to a metropolitan pool. There is a catch in Minnesota, however. Without special legislation, cities cannot impose sales taxes, except for local lodging taxes to fund tourism promotion.

” Similar to Broomfield’s own political move, the city of Louisville, Ky. overnight went from the nation’s 67th largest city to the 16th largest when voters approved a merger with Jefferson County and its 83 suburban cities, where most of the area’s growth was occurring.

Bruno and several council people I talked to, make it very clear any tax revenue sharing plan or even discussion was not included on the council’s annual goals from their recent retreat.

“One has to approach that (revenue sharing) at the right time,” Bruno says, “and Boulder is probably not at the right point because our economy is not in a very good state of affairs right now.

“Today I can tell you I think it makes all the sense in the world, but only when you are in a position of strength to put something on the table.”

Despite lower tax collections and new worries of further cuts, it’s important to remember that per capita, Boulder’s retail numbers are higher than its neighbors. Longmont, for example, where 2003 retail and use taxes came in over budget, collected $37.3 million. In any type of sharing plan, it’s not unreasonable to think Boulder might still be the city with the biggest pie to cut up.

Both Boulder Mayor Will Toor and Councilman Mark Ruzzin said that the idea has been floated of a countywide library district, primarily because of intense growth in the number of area residents accessing libraries in the east county. In a small way, this would test revenue sharing. The idea, Toor says, “has political momentum to it.”

Maybe Boulder’s city manager is standing alone on the soapbox after all.

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