Many expected fireworks to come from the joint work session between the Woodland Park City Council and the Woodland Park School District RE-2 on April 29.

That’s not what they got.

The special meeting to discuss the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the two was cordial and productive. The disagreements between the two sides were minor and both showed a predisposition to reach agreement.

That was in contrast to the weeks leading up to the meeting.

A recent communication breakdown between the government bodies over a need to discuss the nature of the IGA, a 1.09% sales tax solely for the district to use for educational purposes, had foreshadowed possible disagreement between the sides.

During the Feb. 15 meeting, after allegations of little-to-no communication from the board to discuss the matter, the city council approved ordinance No. 1471, Series 2024, which proposes to eliminate the sales tax that goes to the school district. The decision followed a Feb. 7 meeting where the idea to lose the tax was discussed and promptly followed by an email from the district’s attorney.

Some councilmembers and community members believe that the board members had been mum concerning public disclosure and overall transparency of how the tax dollars were being utilized in recent years.

Rusty Neal said he and his fellow councilmembers had received “a boatload of emails” expressing concern over a perceived lack of financial transparency. He went to the district’s website and was surprised at the level of detail available and asked the email senders to clarify their complaints.

“For the public that’s listening to me as your council representative, what is missing that your asking for?” Neal asked. “If you look at the budgets, they’re pretty detailed.

“The thing I’m trying to understand is why the budgets as reported aren’t inadequate?”

Another point addressed was the need for face-to-face meetings at least annually.

Since getting approved by voters in 2016, the district would present to the council their annual audit of how the funds were being used throughout the district. The last time this had occurred, however, was back in 2019.

“Technically, legally, we are in arrears of having this presentation,” Mayor Hilary Labarre said.

This was as close to any real conflict the meeting saw. One board member pointed to changing seats and additional challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic since that time as reasons why the practice was not continued in recent years and why the annual reports ceased.

Board member Keegan Barkley offered some clarification. She said that nobody was trying to blame anybody else for the lapse.

“This wasn’t happening in the past. What this meeting is all about is making sure (it does) going forward,” Barkley said. “Let’s make sure we’re moving forward in an appropriate way; taking responsibility, taking accountability and making sure (the lapse) doesn’t happen again.”

Councilmembers Carol Harvey and Robert Zuluaga each had to contact the district’s clerk to view the current expenditures of the tax funds. Harvey explained that, while successful, the process was far from a simple ask and would benefit from regular presentations.

“And that’s what I think the voters want – to see it done again,” she said. “Present the good-news story of this is how the tax money is being spent.”

One particular item brought to their attention by members of the public was the lack of clarity on whether or not local charter schools qualified to receive the tax funding. After a brief discussion, it was clarified that state law does not allow for charter schools to be excluded from this type of funding.

“We can’t exclude them under this agreement,” WPSD Attorney Brad Miller said. “We’re not able to.”

Both parties agreed to resume the periodic reporting of how the tax proceeds have been spent. They also agreed to add language to the IGA that clarified the inclusion of charter school funding and to make other slight adjustments like updated administrative fees.

The public hearing for the approval of the ordinance is still scheduled to take place during the March 7 City Council meeting where there will be a public hearing.

“There are a lot of things that we need to discuss, at a minimum, on an annual basis,” Harvey said.

Woodland Park City Hall, 220 W. South Ave., is pictured in this 2021 file photo.

Jeff Kearney, Pikes Peak Courier file