Castle Rock invites residents to budget open house with tacos

Tacos are the hook, but the real draw is a chance to shape how Castle Rock spends money on police, fire, roads, water and growth in 2027. The Town of Castle Rock will host a come-and-go budget open house Tuesday, June 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Cantril School, 312 Cantril St., where residents can talk with staff, ask questions and share priorities over complimentary tacos.

Town officials say the event will explain how the budget is built, how money is allocated across departments and what projects are expected to compete for funding next year. The town is also offering an online questionnaire for people who cannot attend in person, extending the same opportunity for feedback beyond the walls of Cantril School.

Castle Rock has framed the open house as part of a broader public-engagement effort rather than a one-time meeting. The town’s 2027 budget page says it plans its budget for the following year each year and gathers input through multiple channels, including a biannual community survey distributed in spring 2025 and other public-engagement opportunities. The town used a similar budget open house format at Cantril School on July 21, 2025, when pizza helped draw people in.

The location carries its own local weight. Cantril School is historically landmarked by the town, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and set on about 2 acres. The site has 54 on-site parking spaces and is now used for arts and enrichment programming through a partnership with the Tri Arts Project, making it a familiar civic gathering place as well as a historic one.

The 2027 conversation comes into sharper focus when set against Castle Rock’s 2026 budget. Town materials listed a $349.6 million total budget, $93.5 million in General Fund operations and $100.2 million in General Fund revenues. The same materials highlighted police and fire operations, Cantril School improvements, the Castle Rock Sports Complex, pavement maintenance, the Crystal Valley interchange and water operations as major priorities.

Those are the kinds of decisions residents can influence now, before numbers harden into a final spending plan. Town Manager David L. Corliss, who has served in the post since June 1, 2015, has said the budget has to balance resources with community needs while still delivering strong services. In a fast-growing town where road capacity, water reliability, public safety staffing and open-space investment all compete for limited dollars, June 9 offers a chance to weigh in before the budget is largely set.