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 State props would kill local governments, officials say & Fiesta Days
7/30/2010 By: By Carole McWilliams
The Augustine Velasques memorial float is a perennial entry in the San Ignacio Fiesta Parade which was held last Saturday.
By Carole McWilliams
Times senior staff writer
Representatives of local governments, fire departments and special districts gathered in Buckley Park in Durango Wednesday evening to describe the local impacts if voters approve three state ballot issues this fall.
They are Amendments 60 and 61, which would become part of the state constitution, and Proposition 101.
Colorado Transportation Commission member Steve Parker said that last year CDOT stopped snowplowing at night on some low traffic highways, and people complained mightily.
“If Prop. 101 passes, we might not be plowing any roads at night,” Parker said.
CDOT’s statewide revenue was about $1 billion in 2001, and last year it was still $1 billion, while highway construction costs have risen about 30 percent, he said.
If 101 passes, CDOT will lose around $270 million a year, Parker said. Prop. 101 cancels FASTER vehicle fee increases approved by the legislature last year to boost highway funding. Beyond that, it effectively eliminates vehicle registration fees.
“Southwest Colorado is dependent on the highways for goods and services,” Parker said, citing Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to bring in ingredients and ship out product; and blood for transfusions that comes from Albuquerque.
Prop. 101 also cuts the state income tax rate and eliminates an assortment of phone service taxes and fees.
Durango Fire & Rescue Chief Dan Noonan said the four fire districts in the county collectively receive around $900,000 from vehicle registration fees. If 101 passes, that will be reduced to $13,500.
“That will buy one ambulance cot,” he said. “Do you know how many brownies it takes to buy a $350,000 fire truck?”
In addition, 101 would freeze revenue for 911 central dispatch services, eliminating system expansion or keeping up with technology such as reverse 911, Noonan said. It also will restrict ability to hire dispatchers, he said.
Lon Erwin, who works with local non-profit groups, said, “Don’t hurt Colorado! That’s what will happen if these pass.” The funding hits to local governments will pass along to non-profits that provide some critical services, he said. “101 will overflow to the non-profit sector, and we’ll be on the street corner with cans.”
Amendment 60 will gut school funding, Durango school board member Julie Levy said. The amendment says the state will make up local property tax reductions, but the state has no money to backfill cuts that are already happening, she said.
9-R has already cut $2 million from the budget, Levy said, including laying off 20 people and increasing class sizes. If 60 passes, the district could be closing schools, eliminating busing and programs like sports, art, music, and science, she said.
Among other things, Amendment 60 cancels local voter approved school “deBrucing” measures to exempt those districts from TABOR limits on being able to keep and spend revenue.
Amendment 61 prohibits any state debt to finance capital projects and severely limits such debt for local governments. Any local debt for capital projects would have to be repaid within 10 years instead of 20 or 30.
Durango City Councilor Doug Lyon objected that both 60 and 61 “tell us how we should manage our fiscal affairs. Hopefully we can agree that the decisions should be made locally” instead of being imposed by state ballot mandate.
“These (ballot issues) are coming out of Colorado Springs,” Lyon asserted. “They can’t cut their grass (in parks). They have citizen posses cutting the grass because they’ve screwed up their fiscal affairs so badly.”
Amendment 60 would let the owner of any taxable property vote in local property tax elections. “Do we really want to turn county and Durango decisions over to second home owners or out of state oil and gas companies?” Lyon asked. “We don’t know if it’s one property, one vote, or based on assessed valuation. What if every gas well is put under a separate LLC? There are thousands of them.”
As for the 10 year limit on local government debt, he said, “I have a 30 year mortgage because I can’t afford to pay it off in 10 years. We have a lot of voter approved capital projects payable over 20 years - Florida Road, the rec center, the library. Also the new Fort Lewis student union or dorms. If 61 was in effect back then, none of those projects would exist.”
The tax would have to be unaffordably high to pay them off in 10 years, he said.
Lyon continued, “How many of you have refinanced your home to take advantage of lower interest rates? Durango has on the rec center and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars on interest. 61 says we have to have a special election to ask approval of that, and we can only have those elections in November. What if the interest rate window has closed?”
State Sen. Bruce Whitehead said, “The combined impact of these would be devastating to state and local government and special districts. The 10 year limit on debt repayment would make annual payments impossibly high, he said. Capital projects just won’t happen.
Ed Morlan, Bayfield town trustee and director of the Region 9 Economic Development District said the sectors most affected by these ballot issues employ around 14,900 people in the five counties served by Region 9. He speculated that half those jobs could be lost. That in turn will affect local businesses and the jobs they provide.
“These are the people who teach your kids,” Morlan said. “What do you do when you call 911 and no one answers? Business people look for good schools, good roads, a good workforce. Do you think this will enhance our ability to attract jobs, to have this chaos?”
Representatives from Ignacio and Bayfield, and the Los Pinos and Upper Pine Fire Districts, and Bayfield schools were among those attending the Wednesday evening event to oppose the three ballot issues.
A local citizens group has been created to oppose the three proposals. It is called the Fiscal Responsibility Information Committee (FRIC).
To get involved or to arrange a presentation by this group, contact John Anderson at anderson@frontier.net.
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