{"id":452695,"date":"2026-10-01T01:52:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T01:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452695\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T01:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T01:52:24","slug":"el-paso-county-commissioners-endorse-no-on-passenger-rail-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/452695\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso County commissioners endorse \u2018no\u2019 on passenger rail tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a class=\"fn-kicker\" href=\"https:\/\/gazette.com\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n            News        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n        Published September 30, 2026 4:50pm\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The El Paso County commissioners this week voiced formal opposition to a <a href=\"https:\/\/gazette.com\/tag\/passenger-rail\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"48955\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">passenger rail<\/a> tax heading to the ballot this November, among other positions on statewide ballot measures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Cory Applegate, who sits on the Front Range Passenger Rail Board of Directors, was the sole vote against a decision last month to send Ballot Issue 7A to voters. The measure would apply a one-third-cent sales tax to communities within the district\u2019s boundaries to fund a passenger rail system between Front Range cities.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Recommended Stories<br \/>\n        \u25b6\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI want the infrastructure,\u201d said Applegate at a commissioner meeting this week. \u201cI don\u2019t want to burden the taxpayer with this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a resolution passed unanimously, the commissioners said that Ballot Issue 7A \u201cwould impose an additional sales and use tax for passenger rail, create long-term costs, and require El Paso County residents to pay into a system for a decade or more before a single train is in service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rail district\u2019s boundaries run through El Paso County, following the path of the planned rail service between Fort Collins and Pueblo. Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Sterling Ranch Colorado metropolitan districts are among the El Paso County municipalities where voters will see the ballot measure. The passenger rail plan would use existing rail infrastructure currently used for freight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The city of Colorado Springs has worked with the rail district on station locations and layout. In July, Mayor Yemi Mobolade said in a statement that the latest plan included negotiated city priorities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is still work ahead,\u00a0and ultimately, the\u00a0funding decision belongs to the voters. I will work to ensure Colorado Springs\u2019 interests are represented throughout this process,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commissioners\u2019 resolution stated positions on 14 other statewide ballot measures going to Colorado voters this year. The full text can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agendasuite.org\/iip\/elpaso\/agendaitem\/details\/9558\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.agendasuite.org\/iip\/elpaso\/agendaitem\/details\/9558\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the county\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News Published September 30, 2026 4:50pm The El Paso County commissioners this week voiced formal opposition to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,1060,140,139,155310,66],"class_list":["post-452695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-county","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-front-range-passenger-rail","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}