The High Cost of Fun: El Paso County’s Event Sponsorships Under Scrutiny

During all the media attention for last month’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, one reader reached out. He pointed out the list of sponsors for the event, specifically El Paso County. Did you know your county tax dollars were given to the event organizers, the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation (CSSC), to organize the Pikes Peak Hill Climb? We certainly didn’t. No doubt the county is proud to spend your hard-earned dollars on this.

During our search, we discovered that county tax dollars, in the form of sponsorships, are awarded for multiple events and non-events annually. The county responded to our Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for the data. They were also helpful in answering further questions.

Economic Impact

Sponsored events must meet certain criteria to receive taxpayer funds. They must:

• Provide positive financial returns to the entire region.
• Be led by an organization with a successful track record in putting on similar events.
• Represent the values of our community.

The county provided figures on the amount of money the local community earns from hosting certain events.

El Paso County Sponsorship Event: Annual Economic Benefits to the Region (according to them)

• Labor Day Lift Off: $20,000,000
• Pikes Peak Regional Airshow: $19,000,000
• Rocky Mountain State Games: $8,600,000
• Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: $6,400,000

Are you convinced that each of these events brings in the reported large sums of revenue to the area? The Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off brings in $20 million? Color us skeptical. Most of the Labor Day Lift Off event attendees are locals. The money attendees spend out of their budget while at the event is taken from another part of the community where they would have spent the money. If someone buys a T-shirt at the event, that means they didn’t have the money to buy a T-shirt at the mall. There is little net gain to the local community. This appears to be creative math to us.

The Taxpayer-Funded Awards

The El Paso County Government Affairs Office is funded with county taxpayer dollars. An internal committee of 4 unelected county employees within that office makes decisions on what groups will receive sponsorships. For 2025, $72,200 was distributed to 6 different groups for various events. Many of them weren’t events that the El Paso County citizens could attend. We asked for a complete list of who received El Paso County sponsorship money for 2025.

• CSSC: $30,000 for Labor Day Lift Off
• Colorado Springs Chamber: $12,000 for Washington D.C. Fly-In
• Colorado Springs Chamber: $8,000 for Armed Forces Luncheon
• CSSC: $5,000 for Pikes Peak Hill Climb
• CSSC: $5,000 for Rocky Mountain State Games
• Pikes Peak Range Riders Foundation: $5,000 for Western Street Breakfast
• Home Front Military Network: $2,500 for Bronze Star Sponsorship
• Colorado Springs Chamber: $2,000 for Legislative Roundtable
• Downtown Partnership: $1,200 for Downtown Partnership Breakfast
• Boys and Girls Club: $1,000 for Great Futures Gala 2025
• Philippine American Chamber: $500 for Sponsorship Bronze Level

Our Take

Colorado Springs Sports Corporation was the biggest winner of the bunch. Who was the loser? As usual, the taxpayers. The organizers of these events have nothing to do with government services like roads or public safety. Let them fund their own events and stop diving into taxpayers’ pockets. We already have a Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax (LART) that helps fund events. LART is a tax collected from visitors when they stay at local hotels or rent cars. The revenue generated from the tax is used for events that promote tourism. That’s more than enough money to contribute to local events. Why do we need to dip further into government coffers?

Some may say these are small amounts of money, and we shouldn’t worry. We disagree. The state is facing a $1 billion deficit for the coming year. That’s going to trickle down to El Paso County funding. We expect El Paso County to cry poor very soon and try to cut into essential services. Funding events is fluff and should be the first thing that goes.

Reach out to the El Paso County Commissioners and let them know it’s time to stop the big and small wasteful spending.

• Commissioner Cory Applegate: CoryApplegate@elpasoco.com
• Commissioner Carrie Geitner: CarrieGeitner@elpasoco.com
• Commissioner Lauren Nelson: LaurenNelson@elpasoco.com
• Commissioner Holly Williams: HollyWilliams@elpasoco.com
• Commissioner Bill Wysong: BillWysong@elpasoco.com