Seven miles west of the City of Pueblo lies a unique special district. Pueblo West Metropolitan District claims the distinction of being the largest special district in Colorado that is not overlapped by any other local government. “Not one other special district or city overlaps Pueblo West,” according to Laura Savage, Assistant to the District Manager. Pueblo West essentially serves as the general purpose local government or municipal local government for the residents of Pueblo West. http://www.sdaco.org/sites/default/files/newsletters/18/mar/2018_april_web.compressed.pdf

1. 12 SPECIAL DISTRICT ASSOCIATION OF COLORADO | 303.863.1733 | APRIL 2018
PuebloWestMetropolitanDistrict
UniqueAmongSpecialDistrictsBy Susan M. Thornton
Seven miles westof the City of Pueblo
lies a unique special district.
Pueblo West Metropolitan District
claims the distinction of being the largest
special district in Colorado that is not over-
lapped by any other local government.
“Not one other special district or city
overlaps Pueblo West,” according to Laura
Savage, Assistant to the District Manager.
A Full-Service District
The District is also somewhat unusual in that
it is a full-service district.
It provides parks and recreation, fire
and emergency medical services, care for
streets and roads, water and wastewater
treatment, and administrative functions.
“We provide everything most cities do,”
Savage says, “except a municipal court
and policing.”
Seeing Rapid Growth
With a population of approximately 31,000
and an area of 49-plus square miles, the Dis-
trict is growing rapidly. In 2016, for example,
theconstructionofsingle-familyhomesdou-
bled from the year before. Savage attributes
the growth to good schools, a low crime rate,
and affordable housing.
The District serves this growing popula-
tion with a total annual operating budget
of approximately $43.7 million, a full-time
staff of 105, and a part-time staff of five.
Comprehensive Services Funded by
Property Taxes
A challenge for the District is that while it
provides most of the services provided by
cities, it must operate on property taxes and
fees. Like other special districts in Colorado,
its revenue stream does not currently in-
clude sales taxes.
The District has a mill levy of just over
20 mills, which Savage says is in the lower
quartile of all special district mill levies in
Colorado. And yet the District must provide
comprehensive services to its residents.
Drop in Residential Assessment Rate
Affects Future Planning
In 2016, the District asked voters to keep
revenue over its TABOR cap to build a com-
munity center with an indoor aquatic facility.
The voters agreed, but then the statewide
Residential Assessment Rate dropped to
7.2%, effectively negating the TABOR rev-
enues that the voters had approved for the
District to keep.
Savage says, “We probably won’t be able
to build the facility for a while.”
This is disappointing, she says, because
while the District has an excellent parks and
recreation department to care for its seven
parks and 16 miles of trails, its only swim-
ming pool is aging and is an outdoor pool.
Moreover, the District doesn’t own a
gymnasium or any indoor athletic facility.
“We depend heavily on the use of elemen-
tary and middle school gyms in partnership
with the school district” for youth basket-
ball, indoor soccer, and other activities like
Zumba and dance classes, she says.
Fire and EMS
In addition, Pueblo West Metropolitan
District provides fire and emergency
medical services from three fire stations,
two that are manned and one that is not.
The fire department employs six command
personnel, 21 full-time firefighters, and 38
resident volunteers.
The District received 2,900 calls for ser-
vice in 2016, which is slightly higher than
previous annual averages and which is ex-
pected to grow as more homes are built.
Planning for a New First Station
Homes on the southwestern side of the Dis-
trict are more than five miles from a manned
fire station, Savage says, and residents are
complaining that their homeowners’ insur-
ance rates are rising as a result.
So the District has begun planning for a
new fire station in the area, developing a
design to learn the approximate cost of an
additional station. The District owns the
land for a new station, and as Savage says,
could probably afford to build it.
But, she asks, “How can we afford the on-
going cost of staffing a station? We would
have to hire six to eight additional firefight-
ers and pay for new trucks, equipment, and
so on. It’s expensive.”
The District has seven parks and 16 miles of trails.

2. SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-BASED GOVERNMENT | SDACO.ORG | APRIL 2018 13
Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment
As part of the comprehensive services it pro-
vides, Pueblo West also supplies clean drink-
ing water to every home, drawing water
from the Arkansas River below Pueblo Res-
ervoiratLakePuebloStateParkandtreating
it before it is distributed to residents.
The District also collects and treats
wastewater before returning it to the river.
Many of the properties in the District—
those on an acre or more of land—are on
septic systems, Savage says, but every
home has treated drinking water.
Streets and Roads
One challenge faced by the District is the
maintenance of more than 400 miles of
streets and roads.
Many of the roads are “chip-sealed” or
are gravel, Savage explains, with 800 miles
of crumbling edging, drainage, and right-
of-ways that have to be maintained. “It’s
difficult to keep up with our road infrastruc-
ture,” she says.
“Unified” Internal Services
Savage notes that one efficiency that
comes with being a full-service metro-
politan district is that Pueblo West has
administrative departments, for example
just one human resources department for
all of its varied employees, and just one
fleet department.
“The fleet department works on all our
vehicles,” Savage says, “from road graders
to fire trucks to mowers.”
Excited for the Future
Savage says the District’s five-member
elected Board is excited that special districts
received permission from the legislature in
2016 to engage in economic development.
“We have an Economic Development
Committee that is working to bring busi-
nesses in,” she says. “There are a lot of ser-
vices that our residents have to leave the
District to find.” For example, she points out
that there are no furniture stores, clothing
stores, or shoe stores in the District.
Praise for SDA
Savage says that SDA does a “great job” for
Colorado’s special districts.
She participated in SDA’s Leadership Acad-
emy last year and found it to be outstanding.
“I love the networking opportunities SDA
provides,” she says. “Conference was ter-
rific last year, with extra sessions on profes-
sional development.”
History of Pueblo West
Metropolitan District
»» The original people to inhabit the
area now known as Pueblo West
Metropolitan District were Ute Indians.
»» Around 1860, adventurers and
homesteaders from the Eastern U.S.
formed a small town called Swallows.
Just 12 miles west of Pueblo, it was a
stop on the rail line to Colorado’s gold
camps. Turkey Creek, which fed into
the Arkansas River, provided water
with which the community produced
vegetables in rich bottom land soil.
»» In 1921, heavy rain caused water
to rise in the Arkansas River and in
nearby Fountain Creek, flooding the
little town. Nearly 1,500 people died,
and the town suffered more than $20
million in damages.
»» Swallows was later permanently
drowned when the valley was flooded
in 1974 to fill the Pueblo Reservoir.
»» In 1969, Robert P. McCulloch, Sr.,
brought his land development company,
McCulloch Properties, Inc., to Colorado.
Known for developing the master-
planned Lake Havasu City in Arizona,
McCulloch purchased 26,000 acres of
land in Colorado. He imagined a master-
planned city at Pueblo West that
would be based on the popularity of
recreation—with extensive equestrian
trails, water sports, hunting, fishing, an
18-hole golf course, and more.
»» McCulloch was assisted in the Pueblo
West project by C.V. Wood, Jr.,
President of McCulloch Properties,
Inc., who had been instrumental in the
design of Disneyland.
»» Although always envisioned as a city,
Pueblo West became a Metropolitan
District in 1969—and remains a special
district today.
»» The District will celebrate its 50th
anniversary next year. Plan to attend
some of the celebratory events!
An asphalt repair crew works on a District road.
The District serves about 31,000 residents.
The District spans 49-plus square miles.