Centennial faces funding choices as sales tax increase trails at the polls

Centennial faces difficult spending decisions after voters opposed a proposal to raise the city's sales tax to pay for transportation infrastructure. As of the November 10 report, ballot measure 2A was failing, with 60.24% voting against it and 39.76% supporting it. The measure would have increased the tax rate from 2.5% to 3.5%.

Mayor Christine Sweetland expressed disappointment, saying officials believed they had made a strong case for the increase. An earlier city poll had found 59% support for spending more on infrastructure, she said. Sweetland suggested that rising food and gasoline prices weighed on voters as the election approached, even though Centennial does not tax those purchases.

The proposal was expected to bring in approximately $27 million annually. That revenue would have supported paving, bridge repairs, traffic signals, snow removal, street sweeping and future road projects. When the measure was approved for the ballot in August, Sweetland said the city's transportation master plan contained more than $100 million in projects.

Centennial previously accumulated money before undertaking major infrastructure work. Saving enough to repair the bridge over Arapahoe Road, for example, took a decade. Sweetland said that approach has become less workable as revenues flatten and infrastructure ages. She pointed to the departure of retailers including Best Buy, Macy's and Sears, which had been present when the city was founded.

Without changes, transportation infrastructure expenses could exceed available funding by 2028, according to Sweetland. She said routine maintenance of all city infrastructure requires at least $35 million, while only $15 million is set aside for that purpose. The gap leaves officials facing questions about how to distribute limited money among competing needs.

Asked by Denver7 on the Monday after the election whether services could be affected, Sweetland raised the possibility of reducing road maintenance to preserve deputy staffing. She emphasized that those choices belong to the city council and that the eventual outcome remains uncertain.

In a release, Centennial said services would undergo a review to determine funding priorities. Parks and open space are exceptions because their revenue is restricted to those purposes. The city's 2027 budget was prepared without factoring in the election outcome, but Sweetland expects difficult choices to become more apparent in 2028.

Some road work will still proceed because funding has already been secured. Sweetland identified the Easter Road project and the underpass beneath Arapahoe Road as projects that would continue, saying federal infrastructure funding had covered much of that work.