Thursday, July 19, 2007

Spencer Speaks Say hello to Spencer Speaks, Jim Spencer's new weblog. Mr. Spencer takes up Congressional shenanigans this week it this post. He writes, "You wonder how much more indecision the American public will take. The Senate's all-night Iraq War discussion that lasted from Tuesday into Wednesday was, as Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar pointed out, a 'robust debate.'" Here's his RSS Feed. Welcome back to the conversation Mr. Spencer. We'll be watching. Category: 2008 Presidential Election 7:42:40 PM

Anti-abortion amendment on fall ballot? From The Denver Post, "Kristine Burton, a 19-year-old student who opposes abortion, has a ballot question for Colorado voters in 2008: Would they approve an amendment to the state constitution that would define the beginning of personhood as fertilization of an egg, inside or outside the womb? The secretary of state's three-person title board held a hearing on the anti-abortion initiative Wednesday afternoon. Working with Burton's attorney, Mark Meuser, the board crafted ballot language for an amendment 'defining the term person to include any human being from the moment of fertilization as person is used in those provisions of the Colorado Constitution relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice and due process of law.'" Category: Denver November 2007 Election 6:11:34 AM

Bond issues on November ballot? The Denver Post takes a stab at explaining the complications around the proposed bond issues for the fall ballot. From the article: Denver's planned $550 million bond package and a $27 million tax increase for infrastructure will have to be divided into eight questions on the November ballot, raising concern among City Council members that the projects will be pitted against one another. That scenario already had one council member referring to a grouping for cultural projects as expendable "icing" when the plan was presented to City Council Wednesday. The eight separate questions are required by Colorado case law. On top of that, the city's bonding capacity will further complicate the questions. If any of the bond groupings that cost $70 million or more were to fail at the polls, the city's property-tax rate would remain the same as it is now. If all pass, the tax rate will rise to pay for the cost of the bonds. Regardless, if voters approve the one question increasing the tax rate to pay for maintenance of all the proposed new projects, the city's rate will rise. It all worried officials hoping to pass the full plan... Mayor John Hickenlooper released his plan for a bond issue and a 2.5-mill property-tax increase Wednesday after working with a task force for more than a year. Council members praised the package overall. But because the scope includes such varied projects as transportation, libraries, recreation centers and cultural facilities, by law they must be placed in eight subgroups on the ballot instead of a single bond issue. If approved by the council, voters will see eight questions: seven questions on groups of projects to be funded through a single bond and one question on a property-tax increase to raise $27 million annually (or about $49.25 a year for the median home) for maintenance. The confusion comes in the amount of bonding capacity the city can handle without a tax increase. The city could conceivably issue $480 million in bonds over 20 years without increasing the property-tax rate Denver residents pay. So the tax rate would remain the same if voters approved six of the bond groups but voted down either a $70 million grouping to restore buildings, a $93 million grouping for parks and recreation, a $150 million group for public works, or a $70 million group for cultural facilities. Clever voters may understand that and choose not to approve one of the groups to keep their taxes at the current rate. Some council members quickly feared that voters would target the cultural projects, the last grouping listed on the ballot. Denver voters are likely to see these eight project groupings as questions on the November ballot: 1. 2.5-mill increase for maintenance - $27 million; Refurbishing city buildings - $70.9 million; Health and human services - $48.6 million; Parks and recreation centers - $93.4 million; Public safety - $65.2 million; Streets, transportation and public works - $149.8 million; Libraries - $51.9 million; Cultural facilities - $70 million. More coverage from The Rocky Mountain News. They write: Mayor John Hickenlooper whittled down the size of November's proposed bond issue, but some are concerned that Denver voters might not know they can avoid a property-tax increase by approving only part of the package... Council President Michael Hancock and Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who had been working with the mayor's office on the bond issue, said they were "surprised" and "taken aback" by Hickenlooper's final proposal. Robb said she understood in her talks with the mayor's office that $70 million of cultural projects, including renovation of Boettcher Concert Hall, was "the tax increase," and she expected that to be made clear to voters. However, Hickenlooper plans to push the entire bond issue as one package. Chris Henderson, the city's chief operating officer, told the council the mayor "is going to campaign for the whole thing aggressively."[...] If voters approve the 2.5 mill levy, the owner of a home valued at $255,000 would pay an additional $49.25 a year in property taxes. If the $550 million bond issue is approved, that homeowner would pay an additional $12.41 annually, for a total of $61.66. But if voters approve the mill levy and only $480 million worth of projects, then the increase would be $49.25. Hancock said he agreed with 98 percent of the mayor's proposal and his only concern is that it doesn't "demonstrate" that anything above $480 million would trigger a tax increase. "To me, it's just an issue of transparency, and that is being honest with the voters about really what this is," he said. "I think, as a council, we'll have to grapple with that." Category: Denver November 2007 Election 6:07:51 AM

© Copyright 2007 John Orr. Last update: 8/1/07; 8:22:34 AM.