CENTENNIAL, Colo. — For the first time since 2003, the 2.5% sales tax rate in Centennial could be changed.
It's something the newly elected mayor told Denver7's Danielle Kreutter the city might consider when she spoke to us back in May.
"Maybe we have to tax a little bit more for when you go out to eat or when you buy new furniture at Ikea," said Christine Sweetland, Centennial's Mayor at the time.
Now, it's official: The city will be asking residents if they can raise the sales tax to pay for transportation projects.
"We have a transportation master plan. It has over $100 million worth of projects on it," Sweetland said on Thursday.
"Why can't the city just continue to not go in debt, save up for projects, then do the projects?" asked Denver7's South Metro Reporter Danielle Kreutter.
"Right, so, our revenues are just flattening," said Sweetland. "Those big box stores that were here when Centennial was founded, you know, Best Buy, Macy's, Sears — they've gone away."
In the past, the city would save up for expensive projects, like the bridge over Arapahoe Road. It took 10 years to save up to repair that bridge. The mayor said that strategy isn't working anymore.
"Our infrastructure is very old, and so we want to make sure that we don't have deferred maintenance," she said.
City officials told Denver7 the Street Fund currently receives approximately $15 million in dedicated annual revenue. They report that maintaining and operating transportation infrastructure costs at least $35 million each year.
The measure on the November ballot would ask voters to raise the sales tax from 2.5% to 3.5% instead.
"That 1% goes directly to our street fund," said Sweetland.
The city estimates it would generate about $27 million a year to go toward road improvements, including paving, bridge repairs, traffic signals, snow removal, street sweeping and future road projects.
Local business owners like Karli Millspaugh have gotten used to the unchanging sales tax.
"It's been really nice. As a business owner, I haven't had to constantly update my sales tax rate in my POS systems, so that's been great," said Millspaugh. "As a customer, it's been really handy because the price I know I pay for like, a pie here has stayed the same forever and ever."
She said while she understands some shoppers may not support the idea of paying more, she is not concerned about possibly losing shoppers to neighboring cities.
"At the end of the day, 1% is so little. It still puts Centennial right in the middle of all of our stores as far as the sales tax rates," said Millspaugh who owns and operates two other locations outside of Centennial.
She said she will likely support the measure as a citizen and business owner.
"My customers have to get to my store, my employees need to be able to get here, and if the roads, the sidewalks and everything's not taken care of, it makes it much harder for all of those people to get to our business," she said.
Election day is Nov. 3, 2026.
