Arapahoe County 2019 Property Tax Ballot Measure: Issue 1A

Arapahoe County Ballot Issue 1A, on the November 5, 2019 ballot, asked voters to approve a new property tax of up to 3.4 mills to fund public safety, chiefly a replacement jail and expanded mental health services in the criminal justice system. Voters rejected it decisively: about 67 percent voted no and 33 percent voted yes.¹

What the Measure Would Have Done

Issue 1A was a new property tax levy, not a request to keep money the county was already collecting. The ballot authorized an increase of up to 3.4 mills, projected to generate roughly $46 million in the first year. Starting in 2052, the maximum levy would have stepped down to 2.3 mills and stayed there indefinitely.¹

The measure also asked voters to let the county retain and spend all revenue from the new mills without the limits in Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution. That provision, known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, caps annual local government collections based on local inflation plus the percentage change in new construction and annexation, and normally requires excess revenue to be refunded.² So Issue 1A combined two things in one question: a new tax, and a permanent exemption of that tax from TABOR’s spending limits.

Why the County Asked

The main driver was the Arapahoe County Detention Center on South Potomac Street in Centennial. The facility opened in 1987 with 404 beds. By 2019, expansions and remodeling had raised capacity to about 1,400, but the population routinely sat at or above 80 percent of functional capacity.³

County officials cited severe overcrowding, aging infrastructure, and a building with no room left to expand. The Sheriff’s Office reported inmates sleeping three to a cell in spaces designed for one, leaking pipes, a kitchen built for fewer than 400 people cooking for over a thousand, and a booking area packed well beyond its intended capacity. Deputy injuries from inmate altercations hit record levels, and the facility struggled to meet accreditation standards for exercise and day room space.

The project the measure would have funded centered on a new detention facility with 1,612 beds, a booking and release center, new medical and behavioral health units, three housing pods, eleven multipurpose classrooms, and eleven professional visitation rooms.¹

Where the Money Would Have Gone

The ballot language restricted the new revenue to specific public safety uses, overseen by a citizen advisory committee appointed by the Board of County Commissioners. It could not be redirected to general county operations.

Building, maintaining, and operating a replacement detention facility.
Mental health and substance abuse treatment inside the criminal justice system, including individual treatment plans, crisis intervention, group therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Alternative sentencing and pretrial programs to keep nonviolent and first-time offenders out of jail.
Reentry programs aimed at reducing reoffending after release.
Other operations, equipment, supplies, and capital costs tied to the criminal justice system.

County officials argued that treating behavioral health inside the jail and diverting low-risk defendants would reduce long-term demand for beds, making the investment more sustainable than simply building bigger.¹

What It Would Have Cost a Homeowner

For a typical Arapahoe County homeowner, the estimated impact was about $68 per year, or roughly $5.66 per month. A mill equals one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so the 3.4-mill increase on a home with $20,000 of assessed value worked out to $68 annually.

Because the measure included a TABOR exception, the county would not have had to refund any of the new revenue even in years when collections exceeded TABOR growth limits.⁴ With the measure’s defeat, the county’s underlying mill levy stayed unchanged.

The Vote

Of 158,727 ballots cast on the question, 105,789 voters (66.65 percent) voted no and 52,938 (33.35 percent) voted yes.¹ Opponents had argued that the county should fund jail improvements from existing revenue rather than enact a permanent tax increase, and the nearly two-to-one margin showed broad agreement with that view.

What Happened After

The jail’s problems remained after the vote. The county used $30 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to launch a $46.4 million expansion project that added medical and behavioral health capacity and a new kitchen and laundry. Bureau Chief Jared Rowlison called the project a “Band-Aid” meant to keep the facility functional while a full replacement is planned, and Commissioner Carrie Warren-Gully acknowledged that current revenues and growth made sustaining infrastructure difficult. The expansion was completed in 2025.⁵⁶

In November 2024, the county returned to voters with a different question. The 2024 Measure 1A did not propose a new mill levy. It asked voters to release the county from TABOR revenue restrictions so it could retain and spend revenue it was already collecting, directing that money to roads, public safety, and other county services. That measure passed.⁷ The long-term question of whether to build a replacement detention facility is still open.

1
Ballotpedia. Arapahoe County, Colorado, Ballot Issue 1A, Property Tax Increase for Public Safety Services
2
FindLaw. Colorado Constitution Art X Sect 20
3
Arapahoe County. Detentions Service Bureau
4
Department of Revenue – Taxation. Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) Information
5
Arapahoe County. Arapahoe County Detention Center Expansion Project
6
Arapahoe County. Arapahoe County Completes Detention Center Expansion
7
Arapahoe County. Arapahoe County Commissioners Ask Voters to Invest in Essential Services