Denver voters have rejected Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposal to increase the city’s sales tax rate by 0.5 points in order to pay for housing projects citywide.

The tax hike proposal divided the Denver City Council, where it was delayed, amended and ultimately sent to the Denver ballot in August.

Johnston, who campaigned for the measure at several events ahead of the November election, said the increase would raise about $100 million annually. Using existing funds, city staffers earlier said Denver can expect to build or preserve about 20,000 units. Revenue from the sales tax increase would double that over 10 years.

As proposed, the measure would “sunset” after 40 years, bringing in about $4 billion for “affordable” housing development.

The tax hike appeared to be a bridge too far for voters. The latest tally from the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s office showed roughly 51.3% of voters rejecting the measure, accounting for 141,096 votes as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

If approved, alongside another sales tax rate increase, Denver would have some of the highest sales taxes of any major city on the Front Range. As it stands currently, Denver’s sales tax will increase to 9.15%, bringing it line with Boulder (9.05%) and Lafayette (9.06%).

The mayor’s office is not conceding defeat, saying the measure still has a chance to pass.

“This year, we saw record high Election Day turnout and more than 100,000 votes have yet to be counted, many of which come from young people and working Denverites who feel the crunch of high housing costs the most but vote later,” Fuja said. “We believe there is a narrow path forward and will continue to watch the results come in.”

One consistent vote against the measure was Denver City Councilmember Amanda Sawyer. During an August city council meeting, when the bill was first introduced to the full council, she worried it had been thrust through the process far too quickly.

During the hearing, councilmembers introduced a dozen amendments, which prompted Sawyer to say the council should not be doing “committee work.”

“We shouldn’t have had 12 amendments tonight,” she said. “We should have had the time to bring this back to committee to have an additional conversation or two so we could hammer out these details before this came to the floor.”

“I’m really uncomfortable with the rushed nature of this. I was going to vote yes on this before the sunset conversation,” Sawyer said. “I was really hoping I could vote yes on it, but this is not ready to go to the voters.”

While Denver voters have turned down Johnston’s sales tax hike, they adopted another tax increase designed to generate $70 million for Denver Health, the city’s safety-net hospital system.