As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:
Now that litigation has failed to stop Gov. Bill Ritter’s mill-levy freeze, the Mesa County Commission is considering ways to re-enact the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights revenue limitations for School District 51.
TABOR, an amendment to the state constitution, places limits on governments’ ability to spend and receive revenues. Those caps fluctuate from year to year based on the consumer price index and population. Voters removed TABOR caps (known as de-Brucing, a reference to TABOR author Douglas Bruce) for the Mesa County School District 51 in 1999.
There is a novelty factor here.
“No community, to my knowledge, has ever re-Bruced,” said Lyle Dechant, Mesa County attorney…
You’d like to say that nobody ever will, since the benefits of schools that aren’t crumbling and have working heat, etc. are plain to the average voter, but never underestimate the power of El Paso County-style nutdeology and hubris to carry the day in a Mesa County election. What better time to starve to death local resources than in a massive financial crisis? After all, “We Surround You.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: Conserv. Head Banger
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: itlduso
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Oltmann and Boebert Spread Misinformation on Trump Attack
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Oltmann and Boebert Spread Misinformation on Trump Attack
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
I caught a short piece of Face the State over the weekend- just enough for John Caldera to express his confidence that re-brucing initiatives are imminent, either community led or otherwise.
http://facethestate.com/radio/…
You have to listen all the way out to 5:41
Awwww, do we have to?
Which governmental entity has the authority to place a re-Brucing measure on the ballot? Is it the Mesa County Commission or the District 51 School Board?
Josh Penry and Janet Rowland get whatever they want in Mesa County, details be damned.
to hear the real answer to this question.
The District 51 School Board.
http://www.timescall.com/News_…
Two observations from that story.
First-
If that’s true- I’d oppose individual districts doing this. It should be all or none. And I think it is true, but just up to a certain per pupil funding amount
And B –
Commissioner Rowland doesn’t understand the three branches of government and the checks and balances that we have in Colorado. The Colorado Supreme Court is the law of the state, even if she doesn’t agree with or understand them.
So when the mill levy is certified, it can be frozen – the CO Supreme Court said so. Her personal interpretation of the state Constitution is irrelevant. Unless I missed something and the Legislature passed some law that the governor signed that says one county commissioner can overrule the Supreme Court.
Counties are arms of the state government and, as Justice Mullarkey pointed out in her opinion in the mill levy case, do not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a state statute. Contrary to her nullification notions, Commissioner Rowland doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
This is just another example of the extreme right-wing Republicans that dominate the party here and in many other places around the country. Facts are irrelevant and court decisions can be flaunted all based on their self-righteous ideology. The logical conclusion is these people would lead the country into lawlessness.
She’s a media-magnet! That’s the most important qualification needed to run for US Senate. In our political world, it doesn’t matter if it’s a good or bad idea, what counts is how many times your name gets into the headlines. Could Bennet’s loafers beat Rowland’s three-inch heels?
I grew up back east and spent ten years in CA playing sailor. In both places you voted for x amount of mils and then you multiplied your house value by the the amount of mils and you knew what your taxes would be. The one drawback is as your property value goes up the taxes go up even if you don’t pass any more taxes. That is were CA attacked the issue and limited the increases in property valuations. Here we have all of these goofy offsets that you never know what the bill is going to look like each year. Oh by the way, an increase in my property taxes because the value of my home went up is no more a tax increase then my income taxes going up because I got a raise.
No different? If the value of your property goes up, can you spend that? Like right away?
An increase in the value of your property is an increase on paper only. You realize no monetary gain until you sell your property. In the meantime, you’re gonna want to increase the amount of insurance, so it will actually cost you.
While better than a sharp stick in the eye in some respects, it’s nowhere near the same as a pay raise.