Roads·Permits·Wages·Utilities·Regional projects

When Boulder County decides, our voice is outnumbered 76 to 1.

Niwot is 1.3% of Boulder County’s voters — about 1 in 77. The commissioners who decide our roads, permits and minimum wage are elected countywide.

Five decisions. None made in Niwot.

RoadsSince 1995Boulder County redefined “maintenance” to leave out repaving.23 of 31 miles of Niwot road have no funded repaving plan.The roads →PermitsAdd a bedroom?If your home is already your neighborhood’s median size, you can’t.The county cut the limit from 125% to 100%, over its own Planning Commission’s objections.What you can build →Wages$16.82 vs $15.16A Niwot shop’s minimum wage, against Longmont’s three miles away.Set by a county ordinance no Niwot business voted on.The minimum wage →Regional projects0Connections to Niwot in the CO 119 safety project built at its doorstep.It also moved the bus stops into the highway median.Who decides →UtilitiesNo one to callWhen the power goes out, nobody at Xcel owes Niwot a phone call.There is no Niwot for them to call.Utilities →

Decided by a county where Niwot is 1 vote in 77, or at tables where Niwot has no seat at all.

Incorporation changes the rules.
Niwotians decide.

Incorporation creates a town council elected only by Niwot voters. Roads, permits and zoning move to it, and Niwot gains a seat on regional decisions as a government rather than as a group of residents. County services like courts, public health and elections continue unchanged.

On this ballot, Niwot isn’t outnumbered.
The choice is ours:

A say in our future,
or stay outnumbered.

Ballots are due Tuesday, November 3, by 7 p.m.

What it costs

For a typical home, about a third of what a road district costs — and that’s roads plus everything else

Incorporate$63a monthMost homes: $28–$108Roads, plus permits, zoning and a seat at the table.A road district3×as much the first year: $2,160–$2,30031–33 millsRoads only. The fine print →Do nothingNot freeNiwot’s road bill: $15M now, $33M by 2040The road bill more than doubles while we wait.

A townwide district is not on offer: defeated at the ballot in 2013, withdrawn before the ballot in 2025, and nobody is assembling one. Do the math and the 2025 proposal’s 12 mills becomes 12 + 6 + 9 + 4 = 31 mills, with 995 of 1,809 properties left in it. Show me the math →

Typical home: Niwot’s median, $1,095,000. A district’s price depends on the home and the neighborhood; look up yours. Every line of the proposed town budget is published.

See Your Number

The full arithmetic →

On the ballot · November 3

Ballots were mailed October 2 and are due by 7 p.m. on November 3. Three matters appear: whether to incorporate, the charter commissioners who would draft Niwot’s home rule charter, and the tax and bond measures, Issues 302–306. What each one does →

Have questions? Come ask a neighbor in person.

Next Up
Incorporation Happy Hour
No presentation, no sign-up, no agenda. A few of your neighbors at a table with a beer, the budget and the road maps out, happy to be interrupted. Come ask what you're wondering about, tell us what you're weighing, or just listen. Ten minutes or the whole time.
Thursday, October 15 · 5:00 – 6:30 PM · The Wheel House, 101 2nd Avenue
Every Thursday · also October 22

Drop boxes and ballot delivery: Boulder County Clerk.

On November 3, Niwot isn’t outnumbered.

The choice is ours.