Colorado voters decided to let the state keep $66.1 million in recreational marijuana tax revenue on Tuesday, with 69 percent of ballots counted as of 9:30 p.m. supporting Proposition BB.

Colorado was in the unique position of possibly having to refund all of the revenue generated by two voter-approved special taxes on pot because the state underestimated how much money would be collected in fiscal year 2015-16. That underestimate triggered tax refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Lawmakers put the issue on the ballot in 2015 through House Bill 1367, asking voters whether the state could retain the revenue.

There was limited opposition to the plan, and it easily passed.

“Colorado voters are nothing if not consistent,” said Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, who sponsored HB 1367.

Voters have now three times approved special taxes on marijuana. In 2012 voters approved Amendment 64, which legalized the sale and use of retail marijuana for anyone 21 or older and called for extra taxes on the drug. In 2013, voters approved Proposition AA, which put a 10 percent sales tax and 15 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales above already existing taxes. The Blue Book, a voter information pamphlet the state produces for every election, estimated pot revenue would be $67 million.

The reality was extremely close to that – $66.1 million – but did not exceed it.

However, the state estimated that total revenue would be $12.08 billion, and Colorado actually collected $12.35 billion. Because the state underestimated, it would have had to refund all the marijuana tax revenue.

The money will be spent as follows: $40 million for public school construction; $6 million will repay the general fund for money allocated last fiscal year and $8.1 million on marijuana-related programs for lawmakers to spend as seen fit; $2.5 million marijuana education and prevention campaigns; $2 million bullying-prevention school grants; $2 million dropout prevention school grants; $2 million youth mentoring services; $1 million poison control centers; $1 million local government marijuana impact grants; $500,000 substance abuse screening, intervention and referral; $500,000 substance abuse treatment; $300,000 Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs at the State Fair; and $200,000 roadside impaired driving enforcement training for police.

Voters in Denver and Manitou Springs saw similar TABOR pot tax questions, and voters in both municipalities overwhelmingly supported the government retaining the revenue.

The rear window of a Colorado Springs Police car is shattered by gun fire in front of the Wendy’s restaurant on Wahsatch Avenue in Colorado Springs as police investigate the one of the scenes from a shooting rampage that left three victims dead Saturday morning, Oct. 31, 2015, in Colorado Springs. The shooting began on Prospect Street near Platte Avenue and ended at Wahsatch and Platte avenues where police exchanged gun fire, killing the suspected shooter. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE