Child Care In Boulder County Costs More Than CU: Can A Tax Increase Fix It?

Jake Marsing is often tired.

The Longmont city councilman, teacher and father of three said as much recently when he filled in for our pastor at Heart of Longmont Church on Father's Day.

So the biggest question on my mind during our interview was simple: Why put even more on your plate?

Why throw yourself behind a proposed 2.579-mill property tax that would raise about $30 million annually for child care in Boulder County?

"This is the most important thing I'll ever do," Marsing said. "I really believe that."

On July 23, Marsing will be a lead presenter when Brighter Start Boulder County makes its case before county commissioners to refer the proposal to voters.

"We're going to invest in our kids, we're going to lower costs for families, and we're going to decide that Boulder County is a place where working families can make it," Marsing said.

Many families pay more for child care each year than it would cost to cover tuition and books at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) freeze list has left eligible families waiting for help. Infant and toddler openings remain scarce. And providers struggle to pay and retain workers.

Marsing said those three issues are interconnected, and the Brighter Start Boulder County proposal would make targeted investments to address all three.

I. Address Affordability

The proposal would devote approximately $22.5 million annually to reducing what families pay for child care.

Average Annual Child Care Costs in Boulder County

First, the plan would eliminate Boulder County's Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) freeze list. There are currently about 1,000 children waiting for assistance. Brighter Start would not change the state's eligibility rules. Instead, it would use local funding to eliminate the waiting list.

The proposal would also create a new tuition assistance program for working families earning roughly $60,000 to $150,000 annually—households that often earn too much to qualify for CCCAP but still struggle to afford child care.

The goal is to cap participating families' child care costs at 7% to 15% of household income, although Marsing said the final sliding scale has not yet been determined.

"So it's not arbitrary, and it's not like set in a back room," Marsing said. "But it's also not pre-baked in before we go to the ballot."

II. Create More Child Care Slots

The proposal would spend $5 million annually to address a shortage of nearly 2,599 infant, toddler and preschool child care slots across Boulder County.

Estimated Child Care Shortage in Boulder County

Marsing said the goal is to increase infant and toddler capacity by 30% over the next two years, which he said would create 644 additional slots.

The money would be distributed through grant programs, and Marsing said nonprofits, Head Start providers and other organizations serving the community's "neediest populations" would receive the highest priority. "It's designed for the programs and providers who are serving the neediest populations within our community, who are struggling the most to find care, and then expands out from there," Marsing said.

III. Help Providers Pay Their People

The proposal would invest $2.5 million annually in programs designed to help child care providers recruit and retain workers.

Approximate Annual Wages in Boulder County Child Care

Annual turnover among child care providers in Boulder County approaches 30%. Marsing said the goal is to reduce that to 18%.

That doesn't necessarily mean direct wage increases. The proposal cannot control how individual providers use the money to improve compensation.

"The last thing I would want to do is have our early childhood educators thinking they're all going to get pay raises out of this plan," Marsing said.

IV. I Own a Home in Boulder County. What Will This Cost Me?

Brighter Start estimates the typical homeowner would pay about $120 more per year in property taxes.

Estimated Annual Property Tax Increase

Source: Brighter Start Boulder County.

A similar proposal failed to advance in 2024, but Marsing said that measure was structured as a special taxing district that included portions of Weld County. It did not make it past this same stage of the process—a public hearing before Boulder County commissioners.

Brighter Start considered funding the proposal through a sales tax, but Marsing said the coalition ultimately chose a property tax because sales taxes are more regressive and less economically stable.

"It's not going to be an easy sell, but it's the right sell, and it's a fight worth fighting," Marsing said.

V. A Place To Move The Needle

Marsing said he doesn't know whether he'll be able to leave a lasting mark on some of the biggest public policy challenges facing Boulder County.

Housing, he said, involves developers, insurance companies, state law and dozens of interconnected forces that no local elected official can solve alone.

Child care is different.

Marsing said this proposal addresses a problem he believes local government can actually solve—and one that directly affects working families trying to remain in Boulder County.

"This is the issue that I believe is solvable in a very direct way. Like, I can't overnight make housing cheaper. I really can't," Marsing said.

"Whereas when I look at the early childhood space, I see, frankly, a system that just doesn't work without public investment," Marsing said.

For Marsing, that's what makes the proposal worth the political fight.

"It's not going to be an easy sell, but it's the right sell, and it's a fight worth fighting," Marsing said.