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Tuesday, August 1, 2006
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Denver voters will get a chance to fund early childhood education with a .12% increase in the sales tax, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Denver City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz was the sole vote against a proposed sales tax for early childhood education Monday night, dominating the discussion. The rest of the council voted to put the tax on the November ballot. The bill will go to a public hearing and final vote Monday. A panel appointed by Mayor John Hickenlooper spent more than two years crafting the proposal that would give parents of 4-year-olds tuition for the preschool of their choice based on the parents' income and the quality of the provider. Providers would also get funds. The $12 million-a-year-program would cost residents 12 cents on every $100 purchase - raising the sales-tax rate to 7.72 percent. Eleven council members gave the plan high praise, but Faatz picked it apart, criticizing its basic philosophy, ambiguity and benefit to illegal immigrants...
"Council members and city officials said the bill would be amended to clarify that the tax would apply to Denver children. A new state law outlawing state services to illegal immigrants applies to people who are 18 and older, Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell said. 'My understanding is we are going to follow the law,' Councilwoman Carol Boigon said."
Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "The sales tax would raise about $12 million annually that would fund preschool tuition credits for the families of 4-year-olds. It would allow parents to pick any state-licensed preschool provider, and it asks providers to participate in a quality rating system to receive credits. The children of Denver's working poor would benefit most under the sliding-scale proposal, though families at all income levels could receive some help in the form of tuition credits or subsidies. Denver voters rejected two other tax hikes to support low-income children, in 2000 and 2001. Zachary Neumeyer, a hotel chain executive on the Mayor's Leadership Team on Early Childhood Education, said the proposal is both good business and smart government."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
6:20:51 AM 
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It doesn't look like the Colorado Landowners for Fairness initiative will make the fall ballot, according to the Durango Herald. From the article, "Backers of a ballot initiative on oil and gas surface rights are scrambling to get petition signatures after homebuilders abandoned their cause in favor of joining Gov. Bill Owens in talks with the gas industry. The lead proponent of the initiative, John Gorman, said there is a 'low probability' that his volunteers will be able to get the required 68,000 signatures by Aug. 7, the deadline to get the measure on November's ballot. 'I have to give credit where credit's due. The oil and gas industry did a superb job of maneuvering,' Gorman said.
"The talks convened by Owens effectively splintered an unusual coalition of Realtors, developers and environmentalists, who joined last year to support state legislation to give landowners more power when gas companies want to drill wells on their property. The bill - by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus - set off one of the biggest fights of the 2006 Legislative session. Isgar ultimately killed the bill when environmentalists and the real-estate industry pulled their support. That shifted the action to the ballot initiative sponsored by Gorman's group, Colorado Land Owners for Fairness. After Isgar's bill died, Owens summoned developers and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and urged them to work out their differences, said Dan Hopkins, Owens' spokesman. But Western Slope residents worry that they will be left out if the homebuilders and gas industry concentrate on a solution specific to Weld County, where intensified drilling is colliding with a subdivision boom."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
6:10:09 AM
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© Copyright 2007 John Orr.
Last update: 1/1/07; 4:38:45 PM.
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