Denver City Council members this morning will tackle the politically thorny task of setting the order of the infrastructure bond issues on the November ballot.

On Monday night, after expressing disappointment about projects that didn't make the final cut, the council agreed to send to voters nine ballot questions intended to breathe new life into the city's aging assets.

By law, the question on the proposed 2.5 mill levy, a property tax hike that would generate $27 million annually to pay for ongoing maintenance, has to appear first. The jockeying begins after that - many people worry that the lower a measure is on the ballot, the less likely people are to vote for it.

Councilwoman Carol Boigon, leader of the committee that will consider the order of the ballot questions, said she's going to bring a proposal to put the remaining eight questions in alphabetical order.

"I looked at a number of different ways that would be structural, that would kind of take it out of the realm of us picking and choosing, and that one seemed to make the most sense to me," she said.

Council President Michael Hancock said the "smart thing" is to set the order by pulling them out of a hat.

Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, a senior adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper, said the mayor doesn't have any preference on the order of the ballot.

"What is important is that we are providing choices to the voters and a package that reflects prudent fiscal stewardship of our assets both now and in years to come," she said.

Susan Rogers, a former election commissioner, said she doesn't know whether the order of the questions affects the outcome.

But, she said: "Conventional wisdom will tell you that people lose interest as they move down the ballot."