Shoppers in Centennial, Cherry Hills Village and Greenwood Village will pay a new sales tax starting next year after Front Range voters approved Ballot Issue 7A on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The measure establishes a permanent 0.333% sales and use tax in the Front Range Passenger Rail District. That works out to about 33 cents on every $100 of taxable purchases, according to The Colorado Sun. The tax does not apply to gasoline, food, residential electricity and gas, prescription drugs or medical supplies.

All three communities are among the 29 municipalities in the district, according to CPR News. None of them will have a train station.

The tax is projected to generate about $295 million a year and authorizes $580 million in bonds, The Gazette reported. The money will fund the southern portion of the Colorado Connector, a daily passenger rail service between Fort Collins and Pueblo. The tax has no sunset.

Unofficial results

The measure passed with 56.35% of the vote, with 436,785 in favor and 338,342 against, according to the state's election results website as reported by Trains.com. Results remain unofficial pending certification.

Arapahoe County, where Centennial, Cherry Hills Village and Greenwood Village sit, voted against the measure. The Gazette reported 41,757 "no" votes to 36,036 "yes" votes in the county's initial tally. That opposition narrowed the districtwide margin of approval to 10.2 percentage points.

What the tax pays for

Funding already exists for a starter route between Denver and Fort Collins, with three daily round trips expected to begin in 2029. The 7A revenue will extend service south from Denver to Pueblo. CPR News reported the southern route is proposed to begin service in 2032. The Colorado Sun reported full build-out would take until 2031. The district plans to use existing freight railroad tracks owned by BNSF Railway.

Sal Pace, general manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District, said in a statement that the result was "historic," according to The Colorado Sun. He told The Gazette he would resume negotiations with BNSF Railway on a track-sharing agreement.

"So we're starting work right away," Pace said, according to The Gazette.

Opposition

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, the Independence Institute and Let's Go Colorado opposed the measure, CPR News reported.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, criticized the district's boundaries and the tax burden on residents who would not use the trains.

"A crooked system and gerrymandering certainly do what they wanted them to do," Caldara said, according to The Gazette. He added that officials should verify the boundaries before sending out tax bills.

Opponents compared the project to other transit efforts that faced delays and cost overruns, including the Regional Transportation District's (RTD) FasTracks program, CPR News reported.

Ballot confusion

About 800,000 voters in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Weld counties received ballots containing the measure but were ineligible to vote on it. The Gazette reported the district failed to notify county clerks of a May boundary change. Only votes from eligible residents inside the revised boundaries were counted.

Centennial voters also rejected a separate local measure, 2A, which would have raised the city's sales tax rate from 2.5% to 3.5%. That measure failed with 59.26% voting "no," the Littleton Independent reported.

All 7A results remain unofficial pending certification.