Editor’s Note: The following letter deals with a proposed ballot initiative for a city sales tax hike for facility improvements at the Woodland Park RE-2 School District. If enough signatures are generated from Woodland Park voters, the measure could be voted on in the Nov. election.
Dear Editor:
I am a local resident and no longer have children in school. Many of us are on a fixed income and are tired of people trying to raise our cost of living.
Woodland Park School District is trying to get a sales tax on November’s ballot. That tax would hit every single resident and every person who shops in our town.
WPSD’s books are a mess, the auditors said so in May. The district’s enrollment has declined for decades but the revenues have increased significantly. Instead of cleaning up those problems and addressing WPSD’s excess expenses, facilities, and overhead, they are asking for more of our money. That is not responsible management. That’s the same political runaround we’ve seen before.
People in this community oppose higher taxes. We cannot afford it and, especially now, we cannot trust how WPSD is managing our tax dollars. Yet, they and their pals (on the Woodland Par)City Council, are ridiculously pushing for a tax on our citizens and have shown us no long-term evidence or proof that they’ve sufficiently cut overhead, liquidated assets, or relinquished liabilities in order to match declining enrollment.
Residents, including empty-nesters, should not be forced to bankroll a district that cannot keep its finances straight. If it were us, we’d have to sell precious items and tighten belts. The fact that WPSD wants us to hand them more money without sufficiently selling or tightening is ridiculous. Our purchases and bills are already high enough in this mountain town.
Joe Morin
Woodland Park
