Loveland ballot issues on marijuana, revenue, council procedures get initial nod

LOVELAND — Loveland voters will likely get to decide on Nov. 5 whether to permit a limited number of medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries in Loveland, thanks to a ballot question that won first-reading approval Tuesday night by the Loveland City Council.

That question, as well as a measure that would require only a simple five-vote majority on the nine-member City Council to hire or fire a city manager or city attorney instead of the current two-thirds requirement, must be quickly approved on second and final reading. That approval will need to come either at a special meeting called for next Tuesday or at the council’s next regular meeting Aug. 20, because ballot titles need to be submitted to the City Clerk’s Office by Sept. 6.

The measure concerning approval or termination of the city manager or city attorney passed by that very simple 5-4 majority, with council members Steve Olson, Dana Foley, Andrea Samson and Patrick McFall opposed.

The council narrowly approved one measure that would have sought voter approval of an exemption to the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights by authorizing the city to “collect, retain and spend excess revenues for police and fire, street construction and maintenance, and parks construction and maintenance for a 12-year period.” However, it rejected a ballot question that would raise the city sales tax by 1% — from the current 3% to 4% — beginning Jan. 1 without a sunset date or earmarks.

That first measure had been recommended by Loveland’s Citizens Financial Advisory Commission and had won some City Council support at a July 23 study session.

Supporters said the increases were needed to offset the loss of tax revenue sustained by the city after voters last November passed a measure exempting food purchased for home consumption from city sales taxes. However, council members McFall, Olson, Foley and Erin Black voted against the sales tax measure, and was joined by Mayor Jacki Marsh, who singled out the financing agreement for the proposed Centerra South mixed-use development in contending that the city had approved too many revenue “giveaways.”

The council decided not to ask voters to limit the terms of Loveland’s mayor and city council members, instead referring the issue to a charter commission that is yet to be formed. Acting City Attorney Vince Junglas told council members that forming such a commission could take up to nine months, and then an amended city charter would need voter approval.

The measure that would allow marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city, a question that had been rejected three times by Loveland voters, would impose a 5% excise tax on sales at the businesses, over and above the city’s current 3% sales tax, with no set earmarks about where the revenue would go. The motion was amended to allow owners of dispensaries that existed before the city prohibited them 120 days instead of 90 to apply for a new license before new license applications would be accepted.

That ballot measure passed 7-2, with Foley and McFall opposed.

In other council action, the city’s moratorium on oil and gas development within Loveland’s limits was extended another six months. The council last Nov. 28 had placed a six-month moratorium on such development to give city staff members a chance to update the city’s regulations. The staff requested an extension to Sept. 1 to complete that work. On Tuesday, council members supported the further extension so that proponents and opponents of oil and gas development in the city would have a better chance to make their arguments.