Woodland Park Sales Tax for School District Certificates of Participation

City of Woodland Park Ballot Issue 2B asks voters to approve Ordinance 1532, which the City Council passed on September 3, 2026. It raises the city's sales tax rate from 3% to 3.25% beginning January 1, 2027. The ballot question puts the increase at $805,306.75 a year from that date, plus whatever additional amounts the tax raises in later years, and lets the city spend the money as a voter-approved revenue change, an exception to the limits that would otherwise apply.

All revenue from the tax goes into a restricted Woodland Park School District COP Fund that the city manages. The fund pays only the Woodland Park School District RE-2 certificates of participation outstanding when the ordinance takes effect: obligations issued to finance construction, acquisition, renovation, improvement or major repair of district facilities. The fund cannot pay certificates or other debt issued after the ordinance takes effect unless voters approve them separately. The money cannot move to the city's General Fund and keeps its investment earnings. Revenue left after a year's scheduled payments goes to additional payments on the debt or stays in the fund. If the fund cannot cover a scheduled payment, the district remains responsible for it.

The ballot question states no end date, but Ordinance 1532 ends the tax in three ways. The tax expires once the certificates are paid in full. It expires if city voters approve a new sales tax to pay those obligations. If voters approve Ordinance 1532 in 2026, the authority to collect the tax also expires on December 31, 2031, unless city voters reauthorize it. The council must put that question to voters before the deadline, and if they approve, collection continues for an additional five years. If voters decline, collection stops, the balance goes to eligible reimbursements, and none of it reverts to the General Fund.

At an emergency meeting in March 2025, the council repealed a 1.09% sales tax for the district that was first approved in 2016. The Gazette reported that the tax had contributed more than $3 million a year. In 2026 a citizen petition sought a 0.5% city tax for district facilities and their financing. The Pikes Peak Courier reported that the petition gathered over 900 signatures but fell short of the 15% of registered voters needed. The council considered both rates, tabled 0.5% on a 4-3 vote and advanced 0.25%. In January, George Jones, now the mayor who signed the ordinance, told the Courier that the 8.4% combined rate he cited was high and that "we can't absorb more."