Members of the Colorado Springs City Council said Monday they generally supported building a new facility for police training in the city but some disagreed over using excess tax revenues to fund the project.

The council expects to formally vote at its regular meeting Aug. 22 whether to ask voters if the city can retain $4.75 million in excess tax revenues to build a new police training academy Mayor Yemi Mobolade and Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said was critical to keeping the community safe and would “positively impact” the department’s ability to recruit new officers and retain current officers. 

“If funding this training academy is the most important capital project and it’s impacting public safety, I’m ready to use our reserves to pay for it. We don’t necessarily have to do a TABOR retention,” said Councilman Dave Donelson, who has previously questioned the need to use tax revenues for another training facility.

Possible TABOR vote could mean $5 million for Colorado Springs police training facility

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, caps the amount of tax revenues local governments can keep each year, using a formula based on population growth and inflation. Governments can only keep revenues over that cap with voter approval; otherwise, taxpayers would receive a refund.

The proposed ballot question would also ask voters to allow the city to increase its revenue and spending caps for the years 2024 and beyond based on any voter-approved changes to the 2022 fiscal year revenue – or by $4.75 million, in this case.

“That does more than simply for one year take $4.75 million and put it toward this. It has an impact every year after that, as far as our base,” Donelson said.

If a TABOR retention question is not on the ballot or if Colorado Springs residents reject the question in November, the city will refund excess tax revenues to Colorado Springs Utilities electric customers, Chief Financial Officer Charae McDaniel said. Refunds will be about $21 per electric account, she said.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said the current police training facility is inadequate for current and future needs.

The building the department uses to train new recruits, current officers and for regional training, located on North Murray Boulevard, is too small, he said. The department must rearrange spaces, such as locker rooms and cafeterias, to allow for adequate required training space, Vasquez said. Other constraints include lack of shower space, where recruits can clean up after physical training, and space for new technology,  such as upgraded and expanded training simulators, he said.

In October the department will begin running two concurrent academies under its new 15-week continuous hiring model, and expects to have between 42 and 48 recruits per academy, Vasquez said. 

The building’s current space will not be “nearly enough” to meet future requirements and it also needs  about $4 million in repairs, he said a recent city evaluation found. Repairs that are needed included heating and air equipment replacements and work to bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

A department assessment showed there is about 36,619 square feet for training purposes, including storage space, but about 65,100 square feet is needed for current and future academies.

“Residents trust me, and trust us as elected officials, that we have the best-trained and fully-equipped officers to keep our city safe. They deserve a fully-staffed police department that has resources to effectively and efficiently respond to our need,” Mobolade told the council.

About 84% of 331 sworn officers surveyed by the Colorado Springs Police Protective Association last year said the Colorado Springs Police Department needs to “broaden and enhance” its current training; and in a use-of-force study completed in spring 2022 by a third-party consultant, Pennsylvania-based Transparency Matters, police officers indicated they wanted more training, Mobolade told the council.

Polling conducted by an unnamed organization in July “indicated a majority of residents” would support retaining excess tax revenues to pay for a new police academy, he said. Sixty-seven percent of people polled said they support a new academy’s effort to “put more officers on the street” and 60.5% said they believed officers deserved “the best training and facilities to ensure they are prepared for the challenges they face on the job,” Mobolade said. It was unclear how many people were polled.

Some Colorado Springs residents oppose possible $5M TABOR retention for police academy

At the council’s last regular meeting on July 25, resident Chauncy Johnson presented a petition he said, at the time, had about 2,000 signatures of residents who were opposed to the potential ballot question, saying it wasn’t yet “ready for prime time.”

McDaniel estimated on Monday the project could cost between $12.5 million and $45 million, depending whether the city built a new facility or refurbished an existing building.

Buying about 15 acres of land to construct a new building could cost $3.3 million to $6 million and constructing a new 60,000-square-foot facility is expected to cost between $36 million and $39 million, a staff presentation shows.

Purchasing land to refurbish an existing building could cost $8.5 million to $16 million and remodeling a current building could cost between $4 million and $5 million. McDaniel estimated the city would need to refurbish about 20,000 square feet of an existing building.

She said the city plans to fund the project using a combination of excess tax revenues, approximately $1.8 million currently available in public safety sales tax revenues and a one-time use of between $500,000 and $1 million in public safety sales tax reserves and/or between $2 million and $4 million in general fund reserves. After that money is allocated, financing could pay for the remainder of the project, McDaniel said.

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Staff did not share a timeline for when a new facility would be up and running, but McDaniel said the city has prioritized finding a viable site for a new police academy.

Councilwoman Nancy Henjum said Monday she was “speechless” at hearing the condition of the current police training building. 

“Clearly, I’m supportive of the need for greater training facilities. … We count on our police force to take care of us and to be there for us to save our lives, and I think they need to count on us,” she said.

Donelson said the city should work with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to collaborate use of facilities. Mobolade said he has reached out to Sheriff Joe Roybal to have that discussion; Mobolade told the council he knows both law enforcement agencies have different needs.

Donelson repeated a suggestion he shared July 25: Instead of retaining the money, the city should allow residents to donate their TABOR refunds toward building a new police academy.

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