Columbine Knolls Grove Recreation Bond Question

Columbine Knolls Grove Metropolitan Recreation District Issue 6E lets the district borrow up to $6,600,000 in general obligation bonds and repay up to $13,100,000. The district carries no bonded debt today: the TABOR notice lists its current principal, maximum annual repayment cost and maximum total repayment cost at $0 each.

The bonds pay for repairing, renovating, replacing, constructing, equipping, planning and improving district recreational facilities, parks, infrastructure and amenities. The question lists three groups of work, "including without limitation": aquatic facility improvements; park, playground, athletic facility and recreational amenity improvements; and district-wide infrastructure, accessibility, safety and deferred maintenance improvements.

District taxes rise by up to $440,000 a year for no more than thirty years. The question levies property taxes "without limit as to the mill rate" to raise enough each year for principal, any premium and interest. The TABOR notice gives the same figure as its 2027 estimate and as the maximum annual repayment cost, and puts the district's 2027 spending without the increase at $913,000.

The net effective interest rate may not exceed 5.25% a year. The board of directors decides when to issue the bonds, at what prices (at, above or below par) and on what other terms. Earnings from investing the tax and bond proceeds count as a voter-approved revenue change under TABOR.

The district's capital project cost estimate, dated August 19, 2026, prices two sets of work. Marker Park improvements total $6,481,345: turf and irrigation, the playground and basketball court, tennis courts, the baseball field, restrooms and lighting, and parking. Pool improvements total $3,339,050, including deck replacement, a new baby pool with beach entry and a new pump and storage room. Both totals carry 15% for contingency and 15% for design and engineering. The pool lines draw on a supporting sheet dated July 31 and marked preliminary, which leaves out inflation and general contractor markup. The district's capital improvement page calls the document "a rough order of magnitude estimate (a conservative, early-stage cost forecast)," and five of the estimate's six Marker Park sheets add that the estimate "is not based on any site specific plan."

The notice prints one comment for 6E. Its writer recalls Jefferson County Open Space Joint Venture grants that helped fund district improvements from the 1980s on, calls them now "competitive and limited," and concludes that "a small neighborhood recreation district cannot reasonably depend on winning competitive grants whenever a major project becomes necessary."

The 6E repayment tax is separate from the 2.6 mills that Issue 6D seeks for operating, maintaining, repairing and improving district facilities, and it is raised to pay the bonds' principal, any premium and interest. Each question stands alone, so a yes on 6E with a no on 6D permits the borrowing without the operating mills.