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Inside Niwot

Civic

The 2026 Niwot incorporation election, plainly

On November 3, voters inside a proposed boundary decide whether Niwot becomes a town, whether to elect a charter commission, and five fiscal measures that would fund it. What each question does, without an argument for or against.

This guide describes the measures as filed, without commentary on whether they are advisable. The certified ballot language published by the Niwot Election Commission controls; everything here is a plain-language summary of it, read on September 10, 2026, and it is provisional until the commission posts its reviewed printer’s proof. Campaign material is labelled as advocacy wherever it appears, and the commission is never presented as an advocate.

What you can do now

  • Check the proposed boundary. The commission’s FAQ says the boundary is the one described in the petition’s Exhibits A and B. An address-lookup tool run by a campaign is not official material.
  • Read the ballot. The certified ballot content, on the commission’s own site.
  • Register, or check your registration. Boulder County Elections handles registration, address changes, drop-off and voting locations.

Key dates
Ballots mailed, 24-hour drop boxes open October 2, 2026
Vote centers open October 19, 2026
Election Day; ballots must be received by 7 pm November 3, 2026

Colorado has no registration deadline: an eligible voter can register and vote through Election Day. Dates are from Boulder County Elections.

Who decides what

Two bodies, two roles. The Niwot Election Commission, appointed by the Boulder County District Court, decides ballot content and procedure for this question. The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder conducts the coordinated mail-ballot election it appears in, alongside other county contests. Those who may vote are registered electors residing within the proposed boundary.

What incorporation means

Incorporation would create a town: a municipal government for the area inside the boundary described in the petition, with its own elected officials and the powers Colorado law gives a municipality. That is why the same ballot carries the taxes and the debt that would fund it. Niwot is unincorporated today, so those functions sit with Boulder County and the special districts.

The proposed boundary is not the same as the Niwot census designated place. The 4,306 people counted there in 2020 are not the electorate for this vote, and not necessarily the population of the proposed town.

The questions

Question 1 · Whether Niwot should incorporate as a municipality. Whether the territory described in the petition should be organized as a Colorado municipality. Approval would begin the creation of a town government; rejection would leave the area unincorporated and administered by Boulder County, and none of the other measures would take effect.

Question 2 · Whether to form a nine-member home rule charter commission. Whether a commission of nine members should be formed to draft a proposed home rule charter for the new municipality. The commission drafts a charter; it does not adopt one. It is formed only if incorporation is approved.

Question 3 · Which nine charter commission candidates should be elected. Which of the 28 candidates on the ballot would serve on that charter commission: voters may select up to nine. The nine elected take office only if incorporation (Question 1) and the charter commission (Question 2) are both approved.

The fiscal issues

Issue 1 · A 2.5% sales and use tax beginning January 1, 2028. Authorization to levy a municipal sales and use tax at 2.5%, with collection beginning January 1, 2028. The ballot text exempts food for domestic consumption and states an estimated $2.8 million in revenue in the first full fiscal year.

Issue 2 · A four-mill property tax. Authorization to levy a property tax of four mills within the municipal boundary. The ballot text states an estimated $900,000 in revenue in the first full fiscal year.

Issue 3 · An additional 3% sales tax on retail marijuana, beginning January 1, 2028. It applies only if retail marijuana businesses operate within the municipality. The ballot text states an estimated $60,000 in revenue in the first full fiscal year.

Issue 4 · Authorization to retain and spend collected revenue from 2027. Authorization for the municipality to keep and spend all the revenue it collects from 2027 onward, as a voter-approved revenue change under the revenue and spending limits in Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights), rather than refunding amounts above those limits.

Issue 5 · Authorization for up to $15 million in debt for transportation infrastructure. With a maximum total repayment cost of up to $28 million. The petition proposes repaying it from the sales and use tax in Issue 1, so this authorization depends on that tax being approved.

What happens after the vote

  1. If incorporation is rejected, no municipality is created, no charter commission is formed, and the fiscal authorizations have nothing to apply to. The process ends.
  2. If incorporation is approved, the court enters an order of incorporation, and the fiscal measures that also passed take effect on the dates in the ballot text.
  3. If the charter commission question is also approved, the nine elected commissioners draft a proposed home rule charter. The commission exists only alongside incorporation.
  4. The proposed charter returns to voters at a later election.
  5. No charter is being approved in the November 3, 2026 election.

Official sources

Campaign material

Every registered campaign committee, listed together and labelled identically. None is an election authority and none is presented as one.

Standards for this page

Nothing here argues for or against incorporation. Anything that cannot be supported by a filed document or an official publication is removed rather than softened. The summaries follow readings of the commission’s ballot page on September 9 and 10, 2026, before the commission’s printer’s-proof review; confirm each against the certified text on the commission’s site. Corrections are published with their date. Report one.