Woodland Park residents are working to put a new sales tax for their schools up to a vote this November.

Joe Dohrn has filed a citizen initiative petition for the “Supporting All Our Schools Sales Tax Ordinance,” a proposed 0.5% city sales and use tax dedicated to supporting Woodland Park School District RE-2 facilities. He and volunteers are currently gathering signatures.

The petition comes after the Woodland Park City Council repealed a longtime sales tax earmarked for the school district in 2025. The 1.09% sales tax added as much as $3 million to the district’s annual budgets and contributed to teacher salaries, facility maintenance and school programs. Total district funding for the current fiscal year is about $31 million.

Including county and state taxes, Woodland Park’s total sales tax total is currently 8.4%. Colorado Springs’ total sales tax is 8.2%.

Unlike the previous tax, this proposal would only allocate its revenue toward facilities maintenance expenses and existing payments on financing previously used for district facility improvements. The measure doesn’t allow funds to be used for salaries, employee benefits, curriculum, classroom instruction, district administrative expenses, utilities, transportation, land acquisition or general operations.

It would also differ in that the revenues would be held in a restricted fund and administered by a third party selected by the city. Reimbursements would only occur after documentation is reviewed and approved.

Dohrn said that this approach would ensure that district leadership remains accountable and transparent, which became points of contention and partly why the tax was repealed.

“I think the original structure was not very tight in nature. It was more trust-based between the funding and how the school chose to spend it,” he said. “And it obviously predates our current era of high tension and different factions within the district.”

Previously, the school district would receive its funding and report its allocation to the city council throughout the fiscal year. After some reports were considered too vague by council members, faith in the district dwindled and intergovernmental strife grew.

Also, if approved, the new sales tax would get reauthorized every five years.

The most common funding mechanism for school facility projects is through voter-approved bond measures. The last time RE-2 passed this type of measure was in 2004, according to the district’s website.

Sales taxes specifically for schools are rare but not unheard of in Colorado.

Up north, Black Hawk voters approved a 1.5% sales tax from the town’s casino industry dedicated to Gilpin County District RE-1, known as the “Education Enhancement Tax.” The district reported earlier this year that the tax had generated nearly $19 million since it was approved.

Further up in Routt County, voters approved a half-cent sales tax in Steamboat Springs in 1993 that has been renewed and expanded to benefit other schools in the county through 2028. Since its passage, the tax has generated over $95 million, Steamboat Springs District RE-2 reported.

In Woodland Park, a referendum petition requires the signatures of at least 10% of registered voters in the city.

Dohrn said the response he’s received to date has been “by far the best received” regarding any city initiative or political undertaking he’s been involved with.  

“By and large, thrilled with the response that the community has shared so far and I think, for the most part, they recognize where myself and the folks I’m working with are coming from,” he said. “Which is: Let’s take politics out of this, let’s help our schools.”