RE-2 District and Ambulance Company Win Big in Election 2024; Local Voters Heavily Favor Trump
Rick Langenberg
In a big surprise form past fiscal verdicts, Woodland Park and many Teller County voters said “absolutely yes” to the prospects of maintaining current and even adding new taxes for the benefit of local schools and ambulance services.
At the same time, voters throughout the county proclaimed their absolute disdain for ending term limits for certain elected positions, even ones that are sometimes hard to fill with qualified individuals. And not surprisingly, Teller residents continued to jump on the pro-GOP band wagon, heavily supporting Donald Trump in his bid to regain the White House and to open the door quite wide for another term for incumbent District Attorney Michael Allen. And when it comes to state ballot propositions, let’s hunt those mountain lions down.
These are some of the preliminary conclusions of Election 2024, regarded as one of the highly watched presidential elections in history. As of last morning Nov. 6, the county had posted results from 77 percent of the possible eligible participants. Mostly likely, more tallies will be reported later this week, but not enough to change any of the main results.
Local and State Ballot Issues
On the local front, the Woodland Park RE-2 School District and the Ute Pass Regional Health Service District (often regarded as the WP ambulance company), emerged as big winners in their respective pushes for continuing a current sales tax increase, and for adding new tax levies.
The question facing Woodland Park voters (2A) called for repealing a 1.09 percent sales tax increase to benefit the school district, approved by the voters in 2016. This question, sponsored by the Woodland Park City Council in a controversial 4-3 vote, ignited a bombardment of opposition from many parents, community and business leaders and citizens. They formed a group called Woodland Park Schools Community Coalition (WPSCC), which launched an aggressive public education and media campaign, aimed at outlining the importance of keeping this tax. And if this tax is repealed as proposed, they outlined extremely dire consequences of the district, indicating teacher layoffs, a plummeting of salaries and in plans for facility improvements.
Their efforts paid off as residents killed 2A by a 2,677 to 2,003 margin, based on preliminary results reported on Nov. 6.
The registered agent for the campaign group also credited a letter-writing campaign, directed at the local media, as playing a big role in their win.
School district and city leaders have developed somewhat strained relations, with questions raised regarding the use of these funds and whether the school board is favoring the Merit Academy over their more traditional schools. Those who favored repealing the tax didn’t mount much of a public campaign. In past statements, RE-2 critics have questioned the direction of the current school board and administration, and contend more accountability is needed.
The biggest local winner of Election 2024, though, was the local ambulance district, as they won overwhelmingly in their bid for an annual sales tax district-wide, and for a one-time 2.5 million annual increase in taxes for improving services, hiring more employees, reducing response times and having many more enhancements. District leaders launched an aggressive ballot issue effort in the 11th hour, capped by a rally in Memorial Park. It wasn’t their first time in trying to generate more funds for services, as the district has been hard hit by more demands in services and changes in the way insurance companies pay for these services. They lobbied hard in how this proposition would benefit local residents by having more visitors foot the bill for ambulance services through a slight, additional sales tax.
But when it came to allowing more flexibility regarding term limits, Teller voters said “absolutely no.” Two propositions, calling for ending the mandatory term limits for the coroner and surveyor elected positions, were defeated by wide margins. This has been a frequent voter trend in Teller County, as residents have continually trounced efforts to extend or do away with term limits for elected positions.
In the slew of state ballot questions, no big surprises were rendered. One question that garnered big opposition by the Teller County commissioners, a bid to ban the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats, was staunchly opposed by Teller voters. Citizens rendered a convincing 66 to 34 percent margin verdict against this proposed ban. This proposal also suffered a substantial defeat state-wide.
Teller voters also displayed their conservative colors by saying no to plans to eliminate the ban against same-sex marriage in the constitution, and for permitting constitutional changes, allowing for abortions. Both of these plans though, were approved by most state voters.
Big National and Regional Races
As for the big contested races, Teller voters continued to wave their GOP banners, endorsing Trump for president by a 66 to 31 percent margin. Trump, who served previously as president from 2016 to 2020, was declared the victor in the 2024 sprint for the White House in the early hours of Nov. 6. He edged past Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by a margin that was much larger than many earlier predicted, with some pundits calling it the biggest political comeback in American history. This race was initially considered a toss-up, with few polls predicting a preliminary winner. However, Colorado was one of the few states that sided with Harris.
And in the battle for district attorney, incumbent Michael Allen snagged strong support from Teller voters, beating Democratic challenger Jeremy Dowell by a 71 to 29 percent margin. On a district-wide level, which encompasses both Teller and El Paso counties, Allen won by a little more than 60 percent of the vote tallies on the evening of Nov. 5.
But in the race for Congressional District 7 that encompasses Teller County and many mountain regions, incumbent Democrat Brittany Pettersen easily beat GOP challenger Sergei Matveyuk. However, in Teller, and partially based on party alignments, local voters favored Matveyuk by a 9,550 to 4,484 margin.
Local interest in the election was strong with close to an 80 percent turnout, based on results posted by Wednesday around noontime. As a result, the election could be on pace in achieving a 90 percent-plus participation rate, with more ballots expected to get counted later in the week.
