"Occupied for 183 days or less per year." Those words in City of Boulder Ballot Issue 2J decide which homes would owe a new $4,000 annual tax. The rest of the sentence is very exact. The amount can never fall below $4,000. It rises each year with the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood consumer price index and can never exceed $7,000. What "occupied" means is never defined.
For anyone buying in Boulder this fall, that gap matters more than the dollar figure. Voters decide on November 3, 2026, one month from today. If 2J passes, the price is locked in. The rules that decide who pays it would still have to be written.
The price is in the ballot text, the definitions are not
The City Council adopted Ordinance 8759 on August 6, 2026. That ordinance sends the question to voters. It is not a detailed operating code. Read against the questions a buyer or owner would actually ask, the official 2J ballot language answers very few of them.
| Question an owner would ask | What the 2J ballot text says |
|---|---|
| How much is the tax? | $4,000 a year, indexed to CPI, capped at $7,000 |
| When does it start? | 2028 is described as "the first full fiscal year of collection" |
| Where does the money go? | General city services, exempt from TABOR limits |
| Does a tenant or a family member count as occupancy? | Not specified |
| Do the 183 days have to be in a row? | Not specified |
| What happens if the home is bought or sold mid-year? | Not specified |
| Are renovations, care-facility stays, probate or military service exempt? | No exemptions listed |
| Is each condo or ADU counted as its own unit? | Not specified |
| How would an owner certify occupancy, and how would the city enforce it? | Not specified |
Boulder Reporting Lab reported a January 1, 2028 start date. It also reported a city estimate of 500 to 1,000 vacant homes, which would raise about $4 million a year. The ballot itself estimates $6 million in 2028. The two figures haven't been reconciled in public, and that gap is another sign of how much is still open.
How the city counted vacant homes, and why that matters for condos
The city based its vacancy estimate on water use. Vacancy in multifamily buildings was hard to measure that way, and it was left out of the estimate. A May 2023 city staff memo on ballot issues explained why. Multi-unit buildings were excluded from an earlier analysis partly because they lack individual water meters for each unit. If one meter serves a whole building, it can't show which units sit empty. Any enforcement system would have to answer that question for condos, and the ballot text doesn't say how.
Water-use data also came up in public debate. In a September 16 letter to the Daily Camera, Matt Cohn argued against 2J. He questioned the use of utility data and asked how the tax would treat people who are away for work or caregiving. Doug Hamilton, who chairs the group Vacancy to Vitality, urged a yes vote in a September 27 letter. He argued that owners who live in Boulder as their primary residence and travel would not be taxed. Both letters are readings of a measure whose text doesn't settle the point either way.
One example of how the details could be written
There is one public example of what full rules could look like. Vacancy to Vitality had circulated its own citizen initiative. It covered commercial property as well as homes and proposed $7,000 per vacant unit. The group dropped it when the council moved ahead with a homes-only version. The group now supports 2J, according to Complete Colorado.
The withdrawn draft treated a home as occupied in two cases. One was a principal residence used by the owner or an owner-invited guest. The other was a home rented under a written lease of at least 30 consecutive days. It assessed each dwelling unit on its own, included condominiums by name and excluded ADUs. It also listed exemptions for:
- active permitted construction or rehabilitation
- disaster damage
- probate
- an owner living in licensed long-term care
- certain active military duty
Listing a home for rent didn't qualify by itself. The draft also required a signed lease of at least one year.
None of these are 2J's rules. They show the kinds of choices that still have to be made, and each one could decide whether a particular home owes the tax. The council's own debate shows those choices aren't settled. Councilmember Nicole Speer cast the only vote against sending 2J to the ballot and said she would have preferred a fee.
Who this reaches before they've moved in
Most buyers plan to live in their home full time, and the 183-day line will never come up for them. The open questions apply to some common situations:
- a relocating buyer who closes on a Boulder home months before the household arrives
- an owner who keeps a Boulder home while working or caring for family somewhere else for most of a year
- a buyer who closes partway through a calendar year
- a buyer planning a long renovation before moving in
- a condo or a home with an ADU, where the unit count isn't defined
The ballot text doesn't say how any of these would be treated. A buyer in one of them would be committing to a home before the city has written the rules that decide whether a $4,000-and-rising yearly bill applies.
The bond is the simpler number
The second measure, Ballot Issue 2K, is easier to model. The Recreation and Safety Bond would let the city borrow up to $400 million, repaid through property taxes. According to the city's bond guide, if the city borrowed the full amount, a property worth $1 million would pay about $400 more a year for 20 years. The city says it would likely borrow in stages, so the full increase is unlikely for a couple of years. The guide links to a map tool where owners can look up the estimated impact for a specific address.
Councilmembers voted unanimously to send the bond to voters. They also acknowledged that a poll had found it lacked majority support. The vacancy tax polled differently. A June 2–9 survey of 400 likely voters found 64% support, and support rose when respondents were told the tax would target second or third homes.
Why a fixed yearly cost stands out in this market
Boulder's detached-home median is moving around too much to anchor a budget. In July 2026, the City of Boulder's single-family median was $1.5 million, the first time since February it crossed that mark, though still down 10.4% from July 2025. One month later, in August 2026, it was $1,193,500. That was down 14% from a year earlier and the lowest monthly figure of 2026. It came from just 40 sales, with 168 active listings. With so few sales, a handful of closings can move the median by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Applying the city's $400-per-$1-million example to those two medians gives roughly $477 to $600 a year at full borrowing. The figure for a specific address may differ, which is why the city points owners to its map tool. The vacancy tax works differently. It's a flat amount per home, with no link to the home's value. In July 2026, the City of Boulder's median for attached homes was $543,000. For a condo near that price, $4,000 is a much larger share of the purchase price than it is on a detached home at the city median.
That matters because condos are already under pressure. The Colorado Association of Realtors' August commentary for the Boulder and Broomfield area put condo and townhome values about 5% lower year to date and named high HOA charges as an added strain on affordability. Freddie Mac's national 30-year fixed average was 7.28% on October 1. For a buyer comparing a Boulder condo with options elsewhere on the Front Range, the yearly carrying cost may now say more than the list price. Our guide to choosing between Boulder condos and houses covers the other side of that comparison.
Questions to settle before an offer
If you're buying a home you may not live in for most of the year, these questions are worth asking before you write an offer. They aren't tax or legal advice. They are the points the ballot text leaves open.
- Will the household live in the home for more than 183 days in each calendar year after closing, including the first year?
- If there is a gap between closing and move-in, how long is it, and would a tenant fill it?
- Does the plan include renovation work that could keep the home empty for months?
- For a condo, or a home with an ADU, how many units could the city count?
- Has the city published rules since the vote, and what do they say about the situation above?
The last question will have an answer at some point after November 3. A buyer timing a buy-and-sell move in Boulder may need to plan around not having it yet.
Frequently asked questions
If 2J passes, when would the tax start? Local reporting puts the start at January 1, 2028. The ballot calls 2028 the first full year of collection.
Does 2J say a primary residence is exempt when the owner travels? The ballot text has no exemptions. Supporters have argued that primary-residence owners who travel would not be taxed, but that is their reading, not language in the measure.
Is the $400 bond cost guaranteed? No. The city describes $400 a year per $1 million of property value as the effect of borrowing the full $400 million. Borrowing less, or in stages, would lower it.
What else is on Boulder's city ballot? Question 2L would put firefighters' collective bargaining rights in the city charter. Question 2M would base the city's debt limit on the actual value of property in the city instead of the assessed value.
If you're weighing a Boulder purchase around a relocation date, a renovation or a part-time schedule, Lauren Basford can help you map your timeline against these open questions, and she'll keep you updated as the city's rules take shape. Contact Lauren to talk through your plans.
