WOODLAND PARK — A group of Woodland Park residents is gathering signatures to oust four Woodland Park city council members through recall petitions.
The petitions attempt to remove Councilmember Jeffrey Geer, Councilmember Carrol Harvey, Councilmember Teri Baldwin, and Councilmember Steve Smith from office. During a Feb. 20 council meeting, the four council members voted to take a step toward repealing a 1.09% city sales tax that sends more than $3 million to the Woodland Park School District (WPSD) each year.
The council members said they were concerned about the school district's financial transparency with how it was spending the taxpayer dollars. 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 to the city showing sales tax spending. The last report sent by the WPSD outlining six months of sales tax spending was a one-page summary. The district sent the city a more detailed spending report thirteen days past the deadline.
"The city manager and staff had physically sat down with their people and explained and showed them exactly what we wanted," said Councilmember Smith. "All we want is the line itemization for the moneys that are going to the school district and how those specific things are being paid for."
Several city council members said receiving the one-page sales tax report was the final straw after years of back-and-forth with the school district over setting financial reporting guidelines. Now, the Woodland Park City Council is scheduled to vote on repealing the sales tax altogether during a public hearing on March 6.
Amid the sales tax dispute, a group of residents is siding with the school district. Warren Dickenson, a WPSD parent, is leading the effort alongside two other Woodland Park residents listed on the petition. Dickenson said the four council members who voted in favor of the sales tax repeal are not listening to the voters.
During the Nov. 2024 election, nearly 58% of Woodland Park voters rejected a ballot question that would have repealed the 1.09% sales tax.
"At this point, they're using their powers to say, 'We don't care what the voters said, you know, we're just going to repeal it on our own,'" said Dickenson. "It seems like a personal attack on the school board itself, and the children and the teachers are the ones that are going to really pay the repercussions for that."
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, like teacher salaries, school programs, and 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.
According to the Woodland Park City Clerk, the group needs 721 signatures from registered Woodland Park voters on each of the three petitions recalling Councilmember Geer, Councilmember Baldwin, and Councilmember Smith by April 29. The petition recalling Councilmember Harvey needs 577 signatures by April 29.
Colorado law says the number of signatures needed to trigger a recall election for a city official is 25% of all votes cast for that office in the previous general election.
Powerful spring storm will rock Southern Colorado today and Tuesday
After a gorgeous weekend, we're looking at a very busy start to the week for Southern Colorado. A powerful spring storm will produce widespread 30-50 mph gusts on Monday. These dry, downslope winds will increase fire danger on Monday along and east of the I-25 corridor. Red Flag Warnings will be in effect from 11 am until 7 pm.
