WOODLAND PARK — In a change of course during a special council meeting on Monday, the Woodland Park City Council flipped on it's previous decision Thursday and repealed the city's sales tax that funds local schools.
The city council voted unanimously to repeal the city's 1.09% sales tax that sends more than $3 million to the Woodland Park School District (WPSD) each year. The ordinance is effective immediately.
Council members said their decision was in response to the terms laid out in a drafted Woodland Park School District Board of Education resolution detailing the potential sale of the district's charter school building. The drafted resolution said the school board wants to sell the building to Merit Academy, the charter school currently operating inside the building. According to the drafted resolution, the facility would be sold for at least $5 million at 2.5% simple interest. If the city reduced or pulled the sales tax over the next 30 years, the district would give the building to Merit Academy.
City council members said the conditions of the sale were an attempt to tie the council's hands and keep the sales tax in place for decades.
“The taxpayers paid to have that building built. And now they [the school board] tried to strong-arm us," said Councilmember Steve Smith.
“I have lost total faith and confidence in the school board and the BOE to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars," said Councilmember Catherine Nakai.
Woodland Park School District Board President Mick Bates said the drafted resolution to sell the charter building was accidentally placed as an action item for Wednesday night's school board meeting. Bates said the board will fix the mistake and plans to hear public discussion before making any decision on Wednesday. He said the council's decision to pull the sales tax will have a substantial impact on the district's "tight budget."
“Just very disappointing. I think that City Council is way out of line on this issue. We’ll just have to proceed from there as to what our next move is," said Bates. “City Council, regardless of what they say, this is not within their jurisdiction and they’re way overstepping here."
Amy Jones, a seventh-grade teacher at WPSD, said she's worried the loss of taxpayer dollars will lead to teacher layoffs. According to the most recent sales tax report from the WPSD, most of the sales tax funds were used to pay for teacher salaries from July 2024 to Dec. 2024.
“This entire situation is reactionary," said Jones. “Instead of causing what the school district wants, which is an increase in quality, and an increase in test scores, you’re gonna watch them fall."
Following Monday's special meeting, Woodland Park City Councilmember Teri Baldwin resigned effective immediately. Baldwin told News5's Maggie Bryan she submitted her resignation letter immediately after the meeting and said that being on the council was "not worth it" and she is "not a politician."
Watch: The Woodland Park School District CFP Resigns Amid Concerns About Financial Transparency
On Thursday, the Woodland Park City Council voted unanimously to keep the sales tax in place after hearing community feedback. Several council members called their decision an "olive branch" to the district after writing up an ordinance to repeal the tax, citing concerns about school officials' financial transparency.
In February, several council members said the district was not being financially transparent after it submitted a one-page summary of six months of sales tax expenditures. The district sent the city a more detailed spending report thirteen days later. An Aug. 2024 intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the City of Woodland Park and the WPSD requires the school district to submit detailed and categorized ledgers showing sales tax spending to the city.
Those in favor of keeping the sales tax in place pointed to the outcome of a question on November's election ballot that aimed to end the sales tax. 58% of voters rejected the question, which kept the sales tax in place.
Watch As The Woodland Park Community Voiced Its Opinions The First Time The Vote Was Considered
The 1.09% sales tax was put in place by Woodland Park voters in 2016 to raise more money for the district to spend on educational purposes, including the following:
- teacher salaries
- school programs
- building improvements
Last year, the WPSD received $3.2 million from the sales tax revenue, which is about 10% of the district's general fund.
WPSD sent a press release to News5 Monday afternoon. You can read it below:
“We are extremely disheartened by the council’s decision to overturn what our community decisively supported at the ballot box,” said Superintendent Ken Witt, “This funding has played a critical role in advancing the success of our schools, and its removal will have a profoundly
negative impact on our operations.”
News5's Maggie Bryan contributed to this report.
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