The surprise usually shows up at closing, not at the open house. A buyer falls for a rebuilt bungalow near Eastbridge or a new build off Central Park Boulevard, runs the numbers on a mortgage calculator, then sees a property tax estimate that doesn't match anything they saw for a similar price in Park Hill. The house looks the same. The bill does not.

That gap has a name: the Westerly Creek Metropolitan District, or WCMD. It's the special taxing district that covers the former Stapleton airport site, now Central Park, and it adds a separate line to every property tax bill in the neighborhood. Most explanations of it stop at "it funds infrastructure" and move on. That's true, but it skips the part that actually matters to someone deciding whether to buy here in 2026: how much this specific line costs right now, what it's actually paying for, and when it's scheduled to shrink.

What's Actually on That Line

Central Park sits inside two overlapping special districts, and they do different jobs. Westerly Creek Metropolitan District is the one that collects money. It certifies a mill levy each year and that levy shows up on your tax bill as a distinct district charge, separate from the city, county, and school levies every other Denver homeowner also pays. For 2026, WCMD certified a total mill levy of 68.514 mills, split into 66.459 mills for debt service and 2.055 mills for administration and operations.

Park Creek Metropolitan District is the other name residents hear, and it does something different. It doesn't tax anyone directly. Its role has been to use the money WCMD collects to actually build the infrastructure, the local streets, alleys, and pocket parks that came with the Stapleton redevelopment. There's also a third, older district, the original Central Park Metropolitan District, which no longer does anything and predates Park Creek.

There's a second financing layer that's easy to confuse with the WCMD line but works differently. The larger public projects, things like Central Park Boulevard itself, regional open space, and the arterial infrastructure that made the whole redevelopment possible, were financed through tax increment financing routed through the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. That money comes from the incremental growth in property and sales tax revenue as the area developed, not from an extra line on your personal tax bill. It's invisible on the statement. The WCMD line is the one you actually see and pay.

What It Costs in Real Dollars Right Now

Numbers make this concrete. Using the December 2025 median listing price for ZIP 80238, about $720,250, and the residential assessment rate in effect for that period, the assessed value works out to roughly $45,016. Apply the 2026 WCMD levy of 68.514 mills to that assessed value and the district's portion alone comes to about $3,085 a year. That's before city, county, school, and any other levies are added on top. It's also before the second recurring charge Central Park buyers need to budget for separately.

Central Park has a Master Community Association that funds shared amenities, parks, pools, and community programming across the neighborhood. As of January 1, 2026, that assessment runs about $58 a month for most for-sale residential homes. Some properties also carry a sub-HOA on top of that, tied to a specific building or subdivision, and those range widely, from around $56 a month for some single-family homes up into the $300 to $400-plus range for townhomes and attached properties that include exterior maintenance and shared utilities.

Put together, a buyer comparing Central Park to a similarly priced home elsewhere in Denver should budget for three things a comparable listing in an older neighborhood typically won't have:

• The WCMD special district mill levy, a separate line beyond standard city, county, and school taxes
• The MCA assessment of about $58 a month, effective January 2026
• A possible sub-HOA fee depending on the specific building or subdivision

None of that is unusual for Colorado. Special districts are how most newer subdivisions in Aurora, Commerce City, Thornton, and pockets of northeast Denver got their roads and parks built without the city fronting the cost. The reason it's worth explaining rather than glossing over is that the number on a listing rarely shows any of it, and it's the difference that actually separates two homes priced within a few thousand dollars of each other.

The Payoff Date Everyone Still Quotes Is Already Outdated

Here's the part that changes the calculation for a buyer weighing whether this cost is worth carrying for the long haul. WCMD's own public materials have long stated that once the Park Creek bonds are retired, estimated at December 2051, about 97 percent of the total mill levy goes away, leaving only the small operating portion. That 2051 date has circulated in community discussion for years as the effective horizon for when Central Park's taxes normalize toward the rest of Denver.

The district's own long-term finance plan, published in December 2024, tells a different story. It lays out a preliminary baseline scenario in which all of the district's outstanding debt is retired by 2034, not 2051, contingent on continued execution of refinancing steps the district has already started. As one example in that plan, a 2025 debt refunding and restructuring was projected to save roughly $15 million, and an early payoff of 2016-series debt in 2026 was projected to reduce total outstanding debt by about $30 million. As of the district's 2023 audit, roughly $675.9 million in bonds remained outstanding, which gives some sense of the scale being worked down.

None of this is a guarantee. The finance plan describes a baseline path, not a locked outcome, and mill levy adjustments depend on how revenue and debt service actually play out year to year. But for a buyer trying to decide whether the WCMD line is a permanent tax or a temporary one, the district's own most recent projection points meaningfully earlier than the figure most people are still repeating.

Why the Comparison to Park Hill Actually Matters Right Now

This distinction matters most when two neighborhoods land in the same price range, because that's exactly where Central Park and Park Hill sit today. Redfin's three-month window through July 2026 put Central Park's median sale price at $801,000, up 3.4 percent year over year, with homes selling in about 15 days on average. Park Hill's median sale price was reported at roughly $677,450 as of January 2026, with premium South Park Hill homes running higher and North Park Hill offering lower entry points.

Those numbers overlap enough that a buyer choosing between the two is making a real trade, not a foregone conclusion. Park Hill typically doesn't carry a master HOA. Central Park does, plus the WCMD line, plus a possible sub-HOA. What Central Park offers in return is newer systems, planned green space, walkable retail centers like Eastbridge Town Center, and a fixed-term financing structure that's now trending toward an earlier exit than long assumed.

The state's 2024 property tax relief, which reduces assessed value by 10 percent of the first $700,000 in actual value up to a $70,000 cap, lowers everyone's bill somewhat, including Central Park's. It doesn't close the gap between a WCMD property and a non-district property, since the reduction applies proportionally across the board. It just means the starting number both sides are working from is a little smaller than it would otherwise be.

A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Write an Offer

Does the WCMD line show up automatically when I get a mortgage quote? Not always in an initial estimate. Ask your lender to build the actual current district mill levy into your monthly payment calculation rather than using a generic Denver-wide estimate, since the district charge is specific to properties within WCMD's boundaries.

Will my mill levy definitely drop by 2034? The district's own finance plan describes 2034 as a baseline projection tied to continued debt paydown, not a fixed promise. It's a meaningfully earlier target than the historical 2051 estimate, but it's still a forecast that depends on execution.

Does every home in Central Park pay the same WCMD rate? The certified mill levy applies district-wide, though your actual dollar amount depends on your home's assessed value, and sub-HOA fees vary by property type and building.

A tax line like this is exactly the kind of detail that's easy to miss when you're comparing listings by price alone. If you're weighing Central Park against another central Denver neighborhood and want the real monthly numbers run side by side, Six Seasons Realty can walk through the current district levy, MCA assessment, and comparable carrying costs for the specific homes you're considering. Start a Neighborhood Consultation and get the full picture before you write an offer.