Voters approve!

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by LHS79

TABOR is working exactly as designed!

Give voters the reason why the tax increases are needed and they will approve those tax increases if the reasons are justified.

No more automatic tax increases every year.

TABOR is the reason Colorado lags in infrastructure its a complete disaster for the state a booming economy and the government has its hands tied and can do nothing.

[rochester_veteran]

Link that explains TABOR, Colorado Tax Payer Bill of Rights:

Colorado's TABOR | The Bell Policy Center

While most states operate with some tax or spending limits, TABOR is the most restrictive in the country. Some believe this restraint is necessary; the argument is smaller government is always better, and authority for making decisions about the level of taxation and spending should rest exclusively with voters.

It looks like the voters spoke in Santa Fe County in this latest election.

[DrDog]

The future looks bright

[FindOutMore23]

I personally think Mayor Suthers has been withholding funds for necessities in order to get tax increases (I'm thinking specifically of the sales tax hike for roads). He's a politician with ambitions that reach far beyond Colorado Springs, and the more tax money he can spend, the better he looks. At least he's spending it on stuff that benefits a large chunk of the population

On the other hand, I do see your point. I've always thought that Colorado Springs is a large city with a small town mentality when it comes to providing services - and of course, those services aren't free. It's time for this city to admit that it's no longer a small town and accept that responsibility.

I live in D-20 and they recently extended a bond issue to build a new middle school in the Cordera subdivision. I have no objection to money being used for what it's supposed to be used for, but I've always suspected that there has been "drift" over the years as money earmarked for one thing gets used for something else. Take roads, for instance; as the population increases and inflation (and outright tax rate hikes) increase tax revenues, there should have been plenty of money to properly maintain the expanding road network - yet Mayor Suthers insisted on passing the sales tax increase. I voted against it because the question of "what happened to the money?" was never addressed, much less answered.

And at least the roads are improving!

Great discussion. I appreciate hearing from others who think differently and can eloquently express their viewpoint.

[LHS79]

How exactly are the roads "improving"?

Maybe you saw a pot hole that was finally filled after a few months?

We need wider roads and more of them- our infrastructure can not handle the population we have or will have in 10 years.

A few examples:

I-25 C/S to Denver/I-25 north of Longmont to Ft. Collins
I-70 from Denver west- forever.
Powers Blvd. during rush hours- esp. NB near Research every morning where it goes from 3 lanes down to 2.
Academy Blvd. any time

And on and on and on-

Gutless politicians who will not even put a gas tax to a vote.

You would think with all of these new people in the State we would have a LOT more money from registration fees etc... to handle the growth but somehow that money is going to other places.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by FindOutMore23

I've always thought that Colorado Springs is a large city with a small town mentality when it comes to providing services - and of course, those services aren't free. It's time for this city to admit that it's no longer a small town and accept that responsibility.

When you write "It's time for this city to admit..." I presume you mean "It's time for the majority of citizens who vote in this city to admit..." It's not the "city" who decides how much taxes citizens are willing to pay for services. It's not the county. It's not the politicians. It's not the 45% of the rest of us who vote IN FAVOR of higher taxes to pay for mind-bogglingly obviously necessary services. It's the 55% of the voting population in El Paso County who decade after decade vote to pay little or nothing in taxes to live here, like COS is some kind of anti-tax national experiment (I will not here discuss the demographic make-up of that majority voting population, who tend to have political sympathies that align well with all the things anti-tax anti-gub'mt crusaders like Doug Bruce and others of his ilk tell them).


There are hundreds of thousands of "grown ups in the room" in Colorado Springs. There are unfortunately (and somewhat bizarrely) even more folks who seem to think it can all be done for free or on the cheap and they shouldn't have to contribute. That's just the mindset of a large enough chunk of the population that we get to here after decades of propaganda feeding that mentality. It is what it is. Does "this city" need to change it's approach? I recently sat through a one-hour presentation by an El Paso County official who politely explained to the audience that El Paso County makes due on approximately $0.62 cents of tax income (for roads/parks/everything) per citizen per capita for every dollar received by the "average" county in Colorado, and less than half per capita relative to the greater Denver counties. So it's not exactly a surprise "our" roads are deteriorating, "our" parks aren't being maintained, yada yada yada. It's true at the city level as well. Decades of "starving the government beast" for partisan philosophical reasons will do that.


The 45% of "the rest of us" who don't subscribe to this anti-tax anti-services philosophy have little choice but to shake our heads and watch it all unfold. We could move away but for those of us with careers and kids in school it's not so easy or sensible to just haul off and move to a more balanced community. The recent votes to approve a few smallish and utterly sensible/needed services is a tiny tiny step in the direction of a fact-based world rather than the "kill the government" utopia and then wonder why the roads aren't being maintained and police/fire are stretched beyond capacity. Sigh. Having lived here now 15+ years I have my doubts whether these recent votes signal a change of course/attitude or are just small upward blips in a permanently downward spiral. Time will tell.