SB 25-272
Fiscal Note
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
SB 25-272: REGL TRANSP AUTH SALES & USE TAX EXEMPTION
Prime Sponsors:
Sen. Winter F.; Catlin
Published for: Senate Transportation & Energy
Drafting number: LLS 25-0918
Fiscal Analyst:
Amanda Liddle, 303-866-5834
amanda.liddle@coleg.gov
Version: Initial Fiscal Note
Date: April 10, 2025
Fiscal note status: This fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Summary Information
Overview. The bill allows Regional Transportation Authorities to construct housing for employees and
contractors and exempts the purchase of those construction materials from the state sales and use tax.
Types of impacts. The bill is projected to affect the following areas on an ongoing basis:
State Revenue
Minimal State Workload
TABOR Refunds
Local Government
Appropriations. No appropriation is required.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts
Type of Impact
Budget Year
FY 2025-26
Out Year
FY 2026-27
State Revenue (General Fund) -$22,000 -$40,000
State Expenditures $0 $0
Transferred Funds $0 $0
Change in TABOR Refunds -$22,000 -$40,000
Change in State FTE 0.0 FTE 0.0 FTE
Page 2
April 10, 2025 SB 25-272
Summary of Legislation
The bill authorizes a Regional Transportation Authority or its board to construct and maintain
housing for its employees or contractors and exempts those construction materials from the
state sales and use tax.
Background
Regional Transportation Authorities (RTAs) are a combination of municipalities, counties, and/or
special districts with a contract approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)
to address transportation needs within a specific geographic region of the state. Once approved,
RTAs can finance, construct, operate, or maintain regional transportation systems.
State law authorizes RTAs to establish, collect, and increase or decrease tolls, rates, and charges
to finance a transportation system. RTAs may levy sales taxes, impose an annual motor vehicle
registration fee, levy a visitor benefit tax, impose a property tax, establish regional transportation
activity enterprises, and issue bonds. RTA taxation questions and multi-year debt questions must
be submitted to the registered electors residing within the authority's boundaries for approval.
Seven RTAs currently exist in the state, with current housing for employees as follows:
Aerotropolis Regional Transportation Authority does not provide housing for employees
or have current plans to do so;
Eagle Valley Transportation Authority has two purchased buildings and multiple leased
units, providing housing for about 45 or two-thirds of its employees, with plans to expand
housing in the future;
Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority has housing units for nine employees
with no current plans for the construction or purchasing of more units;
Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority does not provide employee housing or have
current plans to do so;
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority has multiple employee housing complexes;
San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation does not show housing expenditures
for employees in its financial statements; and
South Platte Valley Regional Transportation Authority does not show housing
expenditures for employees in its financial statements.
Page 3
April 10, 2025 SB 25-272
Assumptions
Three out of the seven RTAs currently report providing purchased or leased housing for some
employees, and it is assumed that those housing units require maintenance and repair for which
material costs would be exempt from state sales and use tax under this bill. The fiscal note
assumes that under current law, RTAs are not constructing new housing for employees.
The fiscal note assumes that the bill will not change the overall demand for housing in Colorado.
Therefore, the construction of new housing for RTA employees is expected to supplant private
construction of housing, resulting in no net increase in total housing construction but an
increase in construction of housing for which construction materials are exempt from the state
sales and use tax. Thus, the fiscal note estimates a decrease in sales and use tax revenue under
this bill.
State Revenue
The bill is expected to reduce sales and use tax revenue to the General Fund by $22,000 in
FY 2025-26 and $40,000 in FY 2026-27 with comparable amounts in future years as shown in
Table 2 below.
Table 2
State Revenue
Fund Source
Budget Year
FY 2025-26
Out Year
FY 2026-27
Repairs of Current Housing -$4,000 -$4,000
Materials for New Construction -$18,000 -$36,000
Total Revenue -$22,000 -$40,000
Repairs of Current Housing
Under current law, three RTAs report providing purchased or leased housing to employees.
Estimates for repairs of current housing are based on these RTAs’ budgeted amounts for
housing. It is assumed that only a portion of those housing budgets would be used on
construction materials. Other uses may include but are not limited to cleaning and
administrative costs.
Materials for New Construction
Based on existing housing for RTA employees, it is assumed that new housing construction
would consist of multifamily units, and each multifamily complex would average 10 units. Based
on market research, it is assumed that the average unit is 900 square feet and the average cost
of construction materials is $135 per square foot, adjusted for inflation in future years based on
the March 2025 LCS forecast. It is assumed that construction of employee housing would begin
in 2026 to account for time to procure land and develop construction plans. Page 4
April 10, 2025 SB 25-272
State Expenditures
The Department of Revenue will make changes to its publications and procedures related to the
current sales and use tax exemption for construction materials; however, no programming is
required. Because the population for the exemption is relatively small, work is expected to be
minimal and can be completed within existing appropriations.
TABOR Refunds
The bill is expected to decrease the amount of state revenue required to be refunded to
taxpayers by the amounts in the state revenue section. This estimate assumes the March 2025
LCS revenue forecast. A forecast of state revenue subject to TABOR is not available beyond
FY 2026-27. Because TABOR refunds are paid from the General Fund, decreased General Fund
revenue will lower the TABOR refund obligation, but result in no net change to the amount of
General Fund otherwise available to spend or save.
Local Government
Regional Transportation Authorities
The bill expands the powers of RTAs to allow them to construct housing for their employees and
contractors. To the extent that RTAs construct housing as a result of this bill, expenditures will
shift from current uses of funds.
The three RTAs that currently provide housing to employees will not have to pay state sales and
use tax on their material costs for the maintenance and repair of current structures; therefore,
those RTAs may see a decrease in expenditures in years where building materials for
maintenance and repair are purchased.
Other Local Governments
The bill will decrease revenue for the state-collected local governments that incorporate the
exemption and conform to the state tax base. The bill allows special districts and state-collected
city and county governments to include the exemption in their sales tax base, but does not
require them to do so. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) and Scientific and Cultural
Facilities District (SCFD) are the two special districts that use the state’s sales tax base in all
instances, and the exemption in the bill would apply to those districts resulting in minimal
decreased revenue for the RTD and SCFD.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect upon signature of the Governor, or upon becoming law without his
signature. Page 5
April 10, 2025 SB 25-272
State and Local Government Contacts
Counties
Local Affairs
Municipalities
Regional Transportation District
Revenue
Special District Association
Transportation
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit the General Assembly website.