Gypsum voters to decide Nov. 3 whether to keep lodging tax dollars in town

Ballots are in the mail for the Nov. 3 coordinated election, and Gypsum voters face a familiar question with a new number attached: whether to trade the county lodging tax collected inside town limits for a municipal lodging tax of the same size, keeping the revenue under Town Council control.

The ballot question proposes a 4 percent municipal lodging tax that would replace the existing 4 percent Eagle County lodging tax on overnight stays in Gypsum. The tax rate would not change for visitors. What would change is who controls the revenue. Under the county tax, the money follows voter-approved county purposes. Under a town tax, the council sets the priorities.

The proposal covers overnight accommodations of fewer than 30 days, including hotels, motels, vacation rentals and other lodging. Town staff told the council in August that the town's structure would mirror the county's current assessment and collection practices, and that short-term rentals such as Airbnb and VRBO bookings of fewer than 30 days, which are supposed to pay the county tax today, would see those payments transferred to the town if the measure passes.

Why the town is asking now

The timing rests on two hotels. A 124-room Echo Suites by Wyndham is under construction near Costco and scheduled to open in 2027, and a 140-room Hampton Inn and Home2 Suites has received its building permit. The town expects both to be open and operating within two years, and staff estimate the municipal tax would generate roughly $200,000 a year once the first hotel opens and begins operating, with revenue growing as the second comes online. Town staff recommended matching the county's 4 percent rate because the future hotels have already built that rate into their operating plans.

Revenue would go toward infrastructure and capital costs for roads and parks and recreation facilities, and toward special events sponsored, funded or assisted by the town, according to the town's published explanation of the question.

Gypsum voters have seen this question before. In November 2024 they rejected a similar municipal lodging tax, then set at 3 percent with an estimated $198,000 in first-year revenue. At the time, no hotels were under construction in town, a fact the town's current explanation cites directly. The current proposal follows the model of the town's 2020 tobacco tax election, in which Gypsum voters repealed and replaced the county's tobacco tax within town limits without raising the rate, shifting local collection and spending control to the town.

How the county tax got here

Eagle County voters approved a 2 percent lodging tax in November 2022 covering unincorporated Eagle County and the Town of Gypsum. Voters then approved an increase to 4 percent in November 2025, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Because Gypsum had no voter-approved municipal lodging tax when the county adopted its tax, the county tax applies inside town limits; neighboring communities with their own municipal lodging taxes, including Vail, Avon, Eagle and Basalt, are excluded. State law requires 10 percent of county lodging tax revenue to be spent on tourism advertising and marketing, with the rest dedicated to county voter-approved purposes including affordable housing, child care and public safety.

The question is on the Nov. 3 ballot under the town's coordinated-election materials; the council approved Resolution No. 23, Series 2026 at its Aug. 25 meeting to place it there, according to the meeting summary. County clerks may begin mailing ballots Oct. 2 and must send them to active voters by Friday, Oct. 9, according to the Secretary of State's office, which notes that all ballots must reach a county drop box or voter center by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Ballots will be sent to voters earlier this election, giving voters more time to research their candidates and ballot measures and make a plan to vote by November 3,

Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State (Oct. 2, 2026 press release)