PUEBLO– Front Range Passenger Rail District voters may well decide this November whether to approve a major tax increase and bond authorization to fund the “Colorado Connector,” a passenger rail line intended to eventually run from Fort Collins to Pueblo. The special taxing district’s board of directors is set to vote on referring the measure to the ballot at its Friday, August 28 meeting.
As proposed in Resolution No. 2026-32, only added to the district’s website at the 11th hour, the ballot question would authorize a 0.333% sales and use tax (about a third of a penny per dollar), estimated to raise $295 million annually, with increasing amounts in future years. the district would also be authorized to issue $580 million in debt, carrying a total repayment cost of $785 million.
Revenue would go toward constructing, operating, and maintaining passenger rail service connecting Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Sterling Ranch, Littleton, Denver, Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, and Fort Collins, with service targeted to begin by 2029.
Because this is a new tax and debt, Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires voter approval before it can take effect. Referring the question to the ballot requires approval by two-thirds of the board’s voting directors.
The vote takes place at the board’s Friday, August 28, 2026 meeting, held at 9:00am at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, a secure federal testing facility. The meeting is open to the public, with in-person and Zoom attendance options. In-person attendees were required to have submitted ID information by August 10 and complete a security clearance process. Public comment requires advance registration through an online form, with a sign-up deadline of 8:45am on Friday. Speakers are limited to three minutes each, first-come, first-served.
Written comments were required to be received by 2:00 P.M the day before the meeting to become part of the permanent record.
Majority Democrats in the legislature earlier this year passed Senate Bill 26-172, dramatically dropping about 40% of the original special district population. Rather than incorporating every county along I-25 between Wyoming and New Mexico, the new boundaries includes taxing sweet spots along the rail line. Gov. Polis signed the bill into law in May.
The redrawn district include 30 municipalities and would allow others to opt in upon voter approval. The law also allows incorporated areas to create subdistricts to ask residents to further increase taxes as they see fit.
While sponsors claim the redrawing was centered around areas in which 20% or more of the population live within a five-mile radius of the planned stations, the bill notably cut out more conservative communities including Greeley, Lone Tree, Monument, and Castle Rock.
Colorado’s general election is November 4.
