If approved, properties in the Public Improvement District (PID) would be taxed to cover the repair and maintain the roads in Gunbarrel’s Homestead neighborhood.
The county would cover 30% of the initial work and would lend the PID the other 70% at a 0% interest rate. The new property taxes would be used to pay the county back and then to fund future work and maintenance on the road. The reimbursement is expected to take eight years, but no more than 20 – the estimated amount of time for the initial work to be completed.
The work would begin no more than two years after the election.
The cost of future and ongoing work will be reassessed every 10 years, and the county commissioners — who would serve as the district’s board of directors — can decide to decrease the tax. The tax cannot be raised without another vote.
How much would taxes go up?
This measure asks for 23.61 mills in perpetuity. That amounts to $158.19 per $100,000 in current home value. That’s a a 23.57% increase from current property taxes — an estimated $1,446 in 2025 for the average Homestead homeowner, according to the petition summary.
What would it pay for?
- Resurfacing all roads in the district, including repaving and/or reconstructing and associated costs
- Sidewalk improvements
- Future work and ongoing maintenance, including chip and seals as well as overlays
How are the roads paved now?
Subdivision residents are responsible for the cost of repaving and maintaining roads in unincorporated Boulder County unless they form a PID.
What is a public improvement district?
Per the county: “A PID is a type of special district that can be formed to finance, construct, and maintain public improvements or provide a public service. With voter approval, a PID can issue debt and impose a property tax mill levy on real and personal property within the district. PIDS can be formed to provide any type of public improvement or service that a county has statutory authority to provide. All revenues generated by the PID must be used only for the intended purpose of the PID.”
Other things to consider:
- Organizers of the PID said they used Niwot’s Burgundy Park, the only subdivision in the county that has formed a PID to reconstruct their roads, as their model. The PID was formed in 2017.
- Boulder County polled voters in 2024 about a property tax increase to fund subdivision road repairs and repaving in unincorporated Boulder County. Only about 23% of respondents were in favor, according to the county, meaning it’s unlikely the current process for repaving and road maintenance will change any time soon.
- At a public hearing, one Homestead resident expressed concerns about the tax increase and asked why it was in perpetuity. Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said that’s because it’s the most cost-effective way to do it — maintaining and repairing is easier than rebuilding.
Who will be voting on it?
Only people in the proposed district, just under 190 residents, will vote on this measure. That includes all properties with direct access to Mt. Meeker Road, Homestead Way, La Plata Circle, Crestone Circle, Baca Circle and Ptarmigan Circle. All properties with direct access to Idylwild Trail are excluded.
For more information and to see a map of impacted properties, visit bit.ly/HomesteadPID.