Aspen supports new school tax measure on November ballot

Aspen voters will decide in November whether to increase their financial support of the Aspen School District amid the district’s ongoing financial woes. 

Aspen City Council decided Monday to ask voters if they would like to increase an existing sales tax from 0.3% to 0.6% to support the district, expanding the annual amount generated from about $4 million to about $8 million. If passed, the tax would be in effect until Dec. 31, 2031. The existing 0.3% constitutes a portion of the total 9.3% tax on Aspen goods. 

“Right now, our schools are in crisis and just passing the 0.3 (tax) is just going to keep our school district from sinking,” Aspen City Council member John Doyle said. “And that’s not really good enough for me.”

The decision comes as the Aspen School District faces financial challenges posed by the state. Colorado redistributed its school funds from healthier school districts to those with less funds in its New Public School Finance Formula, which officials estimate will result in about a $5 million budget loss in years to come.

The school district also lost about $23.8 million in funding between 2009 and 2024 due to Colorado’s budget stabilization factor, which removed funding from schools. It has operated at a deficit four of the past five years, according to district officials.

Aspen has historically supported the school district with its 0.3% sales tax, contributing $31 million since the tax was first approved by voters in 2012.  The tax was renewed in 2016 and 2020, but is set to expire  in 2026. If the question does not pass in November council will have another opportunity to pose a sales tax renewal next year.

Aspen City Council will have a chance to formally adopt the ballot language of the sales tax increase to fund the Aspen School District at 5 p.m. Tuesday. They must do so by Sept. 5 for the question to make the ballot. 

Though all council members present at Monday’s meeting agreed to support the tax increase proposal, some raised questions about the equitability of the sales tax. They argued that those who live in the school district but outside of city limits should contribute an equal amount.

“I am concerned of the inequities continuing,” Aspen Mayor Rachael Richards said. 

The town of Snowmass Village currently contributes $500,000 annually through a local property tax. The Aspen School District asked Snowmass Town Council last month to double its contribution and levy $1 million per year, but council is still considering the proposal. 

Richards noted that there are areas outside of both Aspen and Snowmass, such as the Aspen Airport Business Center, that are not subject to either tax.

Council members advocated for a county-wide property tax in years to come to support the district in the place of a sales tax, with the portion of the county outside of the Aspen School District levying the funds to the Roaring Fork School District. 

In addition to the proposed sales tax increase from the Aspen School District, the Confluence Early Childhood Education Coalition hopes to pass a 0.25% tax by regional voters on non-essential goods this November to improve funding for early childhood education. The tax would cover a special district including Pitkin and Garfield counties and southwest Eagle County.

The Aspen Fire Protection District also seeks to pass a 0.5% sales tax to “advance wildfire early detection systems and other forward-leaning fire industry service enhancements.”