Roaring Fork School District Property Tax Override

Roaring Fork School District RE-1 seeks to raise its property taxes by up to $5.6 million in 2026, for collection in 2027. The new levy, combined with the overrides voters approved earlier for the district's general fund, generates the maximum amount that state school finance law permitted as of July 1, 2026. The tax comes on top of the district's other general-fund property taxes and has no end date.

The TABOR notice estimates the maximum increase at $5,600,000 in the first full fiscal year. Without the increase, the notice estimates first-full-year spending at $108,677,851.

The school board adopted the resolution referring the question on August 26, 2026, and the district's September newsletter reports a 5 to 0 vote. The resolution says changes to the cost-of-living factor in the state's school finance formula cut the district's per-pupil funding, and that state law gives affected districts until June 30, 2030, to place an override on the ballot to offset that change, for up to 30% of total program funding.

The district's web page says it has "a limited opportunity to ask local voters to replace that lost funding." At the August 26 meeting, board member Kathryn Kuhlenberg said "leaving this money on the table would be a tragedy for our staff and our district." The Sopris Sun reported that the district enters this school year with a balanced budget, and quoted Superintendent Anna Cole: "We are not on our heels this year." The supporters' statement in the TABOR notice says the district cut nearly $19 million over the past three years through staffing reductions, hiring freezes and other budget reductions.

Among the arguments against the measure, the district's web page notes that district voters approved a mill levy in 2021 and that wages have been stagnant for many people in the community, not just teachers.

At current enrollment projections, the district expects $5 million a year. It puts the cost to commercial property at about $63.63 a year per $100,000 of value. The question sets no mill rate.

The question permits spending for educational purposes "INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO" raising teacher and staff pay, retaining and recruiting teachers and staff, and strengthening academic outcomes and eliminating achievement gaps. The district's annual independent audit, which the district publishes on its website and the board reviews, reports all spending of the new money.

The district's spending plan puts most of the money into salaries and benefits. The board's resolution bars the money from paying the salaries of senior district leaders, including the superintendent and the chiefs who run its departments. Neither the spending plan nor the salary bar appears in the ballot question.