by Blaine Howerton | NorthFortyNews.com
Decision 2026: Wellington Mayor Series
See how all three candidates answered the same questions → Read the full coverage
Focus on affordability and accountability
WELLINGTON, Colo. — Christine Gaiter is running for mayor of Wellington with an emphasis on affordability, fiscal accountability, and reducing regulatory barriers for residents and businesses.
A small-business owner and financial professional, Gaiter is campaigning on resident-driven decision-making and long-term sustainability.
Editor’s Note: North Forty News sent identical written questions to each Wellington mayoral candidate. Responses are published in full, unedited except for minor formatting and clarity adjustments. Word limits were applied equally to ensure balanced coverage. Advertising inquiries are handled separately from editorial coverage and do not influence reporting decisions. An earlier version of this article included edits that did not fully reflect the candidate’s submitted responses. The article has been updated to publish the candidate’s original responses in full.
Question 1 – Vision
My vision for Wellington is simple: AFFORDABILITY for residents, OPPORTUNITY for businesses, PROTECTION of essential services, and ACCOUNTABILITY to residents, not bureaucracy.
Wellington is losing residents to unaffordable water bills, and that must change. When bills rise, residents conserve water (the only portion of the bill they can control), which reduces revenue and makes the water fund’s situation worse. It is a cycle that punishes residents for doing the right thing. After raising rates in 2025, the town collected less water revenue than the year before, not more. This cycle must stop.
Overreaching regulations on traffic studies, parking, fire sprinklers, and grease interceptors are driving businesses away. Fewer businesses mean less sales taxes, higher utility costs, and fewer services for residents. Reducing these burdens would make Wellington a place where businesses want to build, and that benefits everyone.
Ongoing expenses cannot exceed ongoing revenue — and right now, they do. If that continues, the consequences are real. Wellington won’t just lose the ability to build something new, like a rec center — it will lose the ability to maintain the services residents depend on today. The Board must commit to balanced operating budgets before that becomes our reality.
Unaffordable water bills, overreaching regulations, and deficit budgets are the result of a Board that prioritizes professionals over residents. Wellington deserves a mayor who listens to professional advice, weighs it against the best interest of residents, and is ultimately accountable to the people she serves. That is the Wellington I am running to build.
Question 2 – Water Strategy
Wellington is already moving in the right direction by exploring groundwater, building partnerships with neighboring communities, and negotiating with NPIC to lower water costs. I support these efforts and will see them through. But they only address the water portion of the bill. Sewer rates keep climbing because the sewer plant’s $2.5M a year loan far exceeds what the fund collects. Drainage rates keep climbing because capital improvement projects keep adding costs with no plan to control them. The Board has no real plan to address either.
The answer starts with cutting expenses in the short term. Capital improvement projects should be evaluated and phased so they don’t create unnecessary rate increases. Before any rate increase reaches the Board, staff should be required to present a documented list of expenses already cut. A rate increase should always be the last resort, not the first instinct.
The long-term cure is growth. The water and sewer plants carry a combined $73.3M loan, a fixed cost shared across every customer. Some residents worry we lack the capacity to grow, but Wellington completed its expansion of both plants in 2024, and the water plant alone can handle 4.2 MGD but is currently using only 1.3 MGD. We have plenty of room to grow. Every new customer means more people sharing the $3.7M in combined annual loan payments. Encouraging development is not just a pro-business position, it is a pro-resident position and the most direct path to lower utility bills.
Question 3 – Economic Development
Wellington’s Land Use Code already protects the town’s character through height restrictions and design standards. That foundation is solid. Properties cost less than surrounding communities, giving Wellington a natural competitive advantage. Yet in 2025, only 11 new businesses opened. What we need is growth, but we are making it harder than it needs to be.
The development process can take up to three years before a business can open. Our requirements are sometimes twice as strict as neighboring communities. We mandate 13 inspections while other towns use a risk-based model scaled to contractor history and project scope. We require traffic impact studies at 50 trips, while surrounding communities set that threshold at 100. We require 8-inch water and sewer pipes, while other towns require 6-inch or 4-inch. Wellington’s assembly sprinkler threshold is six times stricter than both Larimer County and the IFC (the national benchmark for fire safety) when measured by occupancy load.
Businesses have said that traffic studies, parking, sprinkler system and grease interceptor requirements are the four most costly barriers to building here. On parking alone, current standards require paved lots with lighting and drainage plans that can cost nearly as much as the building itself. Beyond parking, a commercial sprinkler system costs $40,000, and a grease interceptor costs $30,000, which is out of reach for small businesses trying to offer affordable services. Reducing these regulations would result in more retail and service options for residents, more sales tax revenue for the Town, and a more thriving Wellington.
Question 4 – Fiscal Stewardship
Responsible budgeting is the town living within its means. For three years in a row, Wellington adopted deficit operating budgets. If this continues, we won’t just lose future services like a rec center, we’ll lose the services residents depend on today. As Fire District Treasurer, I helped cut expenses, eliminate the yearly line of credit, and developed a 5-year debt repayment plan that eliminated $572K, leaving the district with $2.2M in reserves.
There is an important distinction between micromanaging and accountability. Micromanaging is telling staff HOW to do their jobs. Accountability is setting the STANDARD residents deserve and ensuring it is met. The Board sets priorities, then staff builds a balanced budget to match. That’s leadership, not rubber-stamping a deficit budget.
On transparency, the GFOA award does not prove fiscal health; it only recognizes presentation quality. Wellington received the award in the same two years it ran deficit budgets. The 2024 audit tells the real story: $2.6 million overspent in General Fund, $239,548 lost in the Park Fund, and $833,013 loss in the Sewer Fund. A beautifully presented deficit budget is still a deficit budget.
Audits confirm accuracy; they do not evaluate sustainability. Passing an audit is the floor, not the ceiling, of fiscal responsibility. Four consecutive audits, fiscal years 2021-2024, were late. Ensuring audits are completed on time is a basic standard of leadership, and it was not met.
Balanced budgets, open books, and accountability to residents, not to awards, not to staff, and not to the status quo.
Question 5 – Community & Growth
The decision to grow Wellington was already made when prior boards approved $73.3M in water and sewer plant expansions. That infrastructure was built for a population of more than twice our current size. We now MUST grow to cover the costs of those loans, or current residents will continue bearing the full cost in the form of water bills that keep going up.
Growth is not the problem. It is the solution. More businesses mean more sales tax revenue. And critically, more water customers sharing the $3.7M in annual loan payments means lower water bills for everyone already here. That is why removing barriers to development is not just a pro-business position; it is the most direct path to relief for residents who are struggling with their utility bills today.
On housing, reducing building barriers, streamlining inspections, and allowing smaller lot sizes would help ensure that as Wellington grows, housing supply keeps pace with demand, and prices stay within reach for working families.
Although Wellington must grow significantly, what we can control is HOW we grow to keep our small-town character. From protecting our 4th of July celebration to keeping Wellington safe, family-friendly, and free of encampments in our parks, our community’s identity doesn’t have to suffer because of growth.
On connectivity, working with CDOT to widen and repair the Highway 1 overpass would ensure that, as Wellington grows, both sides of town grow together.
Growth done right can lead to a higher quality of life.
Question 6 – Closing Statement
Wellington deserves a mayor who does more than attend community events, one who advocates for residents, asks hard questions, and holds herself accountable to the people she serves. Top-down governance assumes government knows best and hands decisions down to the people. Resident-driven leadership starts with the people. I believe in governing from the bottom up. Government exists to serve residents, not the other way around. Government is entrusted with tax dollars to serve residents, not to make decisions for them. When leadership prioritizes what is best for the government over what is best for residents, residents stop being served and start being managed. Wellington residents are capable, intelligent adults who can make decisions for their own homes and businesses. The question is who decides: residents and business owners, or government? That is the difference between “I trust the professionals” and “I trust the residents.” Residents first, every decision, every time.
Contact:
Gaiter4mayor.com
[email protected]
Explore all candidates:
→ Ed Cannon Q&A
→ Rebekka Dailey Q&A
→ Christine Gaiter Q&A
→ Full election coverage: Decision 2026: Wellington Mayor
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