ParticipANTs
The Red Ant would like to thank Paul Menter of the Aspen Community Foundation for skillfully moderating the forum, and the following community leaders who made the time to inform and educate Aspen and Pitkin County voters on the issues:
1A: Sales Tax for Healthy Rivers and Streams (Pro: Rachel Richards, County Commissioner / Con: Kevin Patrick, Water Attorney)
1B: Dedicated Funding for County Roads (Pro: George Newman, BOCC Candidate, Distict / Con: Shellie Roy, BOCC Candidate, District 3)
1C: Pitkin County Land Exchange (Pro: Patti Clapper, County Commissioner)
2E: Extension of Sales Tax for Housing and Day Care (Pro: Katherine Sand, Kids First board member / Con: Mike Maple, Construction Experts Group member)
2F: Extension of (RETT) Real Estate Transfer Tax (Pro: Ward Hauenstein, Housing Subcommittee Chair of the Citizens Budget Task Force / Con: Tim Semrau, former Aspen City Council member and mayoral candidate)
2G: Burlingame Density (300: Don Davidson, Citizens Budget Task Force member / 236: Cliff Weiss, member Planning and Zoning Commission)
3A: Property Tax Increase for School Technology and Transportation (Pro: Diana Sirko, Aspen Superintendant of Schools)
3B: Property Tax Increase for School District Employee Housing (Pro: Diana Sirko / Con: Don Davidson, CPA)
4A: Sales Tax for (RFTA) Roaring Fork Transit Authority (Pro: Dan Richardson, former RFTA board member / Con: Paul Menter, Former City of Aspen Finance Director)
And last, but certainly not least, the BOCC candidates:
District 3: Shellie Roy
District 4: Bruce Anderson and Jack Hatfield
District 5: Dee Malone and George Newman
The following were invited to speak but declined to attend or participate. Here's why:
- Mayor Mick Ireland would not participate without knowing who all the sponsors would be.
- Councilman Steve Skadron would not participate since the event was "not sponsored by a local newspaper."
- Councilman Jack Johnson "didn't want to give (The Red Ant) credibility" because he doesn't like "the way The Red Ant riles people up."
- BOCC incumbent and candidate for re-election Michael Owsley tried unsuccessfully to derail the event and discredit forum organizers by making nonsensical claims about "axe-grinding" and complaints about not being given enough time to speak.
AttendANTs
Over 75 local voters attended/participated the pre-election program at Paepcke Auditorium on the Aspen Institute campus - which lasted just under three hours but covered the full gamut of ballot issues, most pertaining to sales tax, property tax and bond proposals. Walter Paepcke would be proud to know that such "enlightened debate" and civilized discourse IS alive and well in Aspen (but frequently missing in City Council meetings, but we digress. . .).
The Audience andThe Ant Weigh In
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Although far from a scientific poll, the ballots turned in tonight told us a surprising story on some issues. The 58% Obama-leaning crowd (McCain 42%), voted down all the taxes but 3A, school technology.
She is too young to vote (just three months old), and ACORN has not approached her even once to register fraudulently, but if The Red Ant could, here's how she would vote on November 4:
Referendum 1A: Dedicated County Sales Tax for Healthy Rivers and Streams Fund, a 0.1% sales tax increase ($1 million annually; $0.10 on $100 purchase) and $12 million debt authority for maintenance and improvement of water issues within the Roaring Fork watershed.
NO. The Red Ant thinks that this is an unnecessary expenditure, especially when it appears that the purported benefits are already being addressed with other existing efforts. (89% of Audience voted NO on 1A.)
Referendum 1B: Dedicated Funding for County Roads, a $5.4 million annual property tax increase for 20 years ($16 for every $100,000 in property value) for upgrades to county roads.
NO. The Red Ant doesn't like property tax hikes, period, at this time. And certainly not for county road improvements. It doesn't even include Hwy 82! Not in this economic environment for sure. (79% of Audience voted NO on 1B.)
Referendum 1C: Authorizes Pitkin County to conduct a multi-tiered and complex land exchange.
YES. It seems like a good idea to wrap up this multi-year, multi-property effort. (86% of Audience voted YES on 1C.)
Referendum 2E: Extension of the Existing 0.45% Sales Tax for Affordable Housing and Day Care through December 2040 (currently scheduled to expire December 2010).
NO. The Red Ant lovesother babies and whole-heartedly supports the Day Care program, but we think that it should NOT be tied to a tax for Affordable Housing. Housing already gets funds from the RETT, and besides, management of housing funds housing is a BIG MESS. Day Care should distance itself. Split the beneficiaries and come back on the May ballot. There's still plenty of time to get this right for Day Care. Just fly solo. (81% of Audience voted NO on 2E.)
Referendum 2F: Extension of the 0.1% Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) for Affordable Housing through December 2040 (currently scheduled to expire December 2024).
NO. The Red Ant sees this 16-year premature extension of the RETT to be a questionable tactic by City Council to pave the way for a HUGE 30-year bond issue for affordable housing on the May 2009 ballot. Given the City's demonstrated mismanagement and decimation of the housing fund, the Burlingame fiasco, the BMC land purchase and $8 million debt still owed to the Wheeler fund - not to mention the economy -- this is not the time toenable the City to prepare toborrow another nickel without significant changes to their entire spending philosophy when it comes to housing. (87% of Audience voted NO on 2F.)
Referendum 2G: Burlingame Affordable Housing Density -- asking whether the density of units should be kept at the current 236 or increased to a maximum of 300 units.
300 Units. A $75 million surprise to the taxpayers after the last Burlingame vote caused a re-evaluation of the project . The Construction Experts Group, the Mayor, APCHA and several members of current City Council support maximizing the density in Phases II/III. This would be the first step toward redeeming the biggest blight in local affordable housing history. (If there were a write-in option, The Red Ant would write "330 units," the maximum currently allowed by law.) (64% of Audience voted for 300 on 2G.)
Referendum 3A: Property Tax Increase ($1.5 million annually for 3 years) for Aspen School District technology and transportation expenses.
NO. While The Red Ant loves kids and supports schools, she doesn't like a property tax increase, especially in this economy. (61% of Audience voted YES on 3A.)
Referendum 3B: Property Tax Increase ($1,147,000 annually) and $12 million debt authority for construction/acquisition of Aspen School District employee housing.
NO. The Red Ant loves teachers and recognizes they need housing, but is not convinced that 3B is the answer. She also feels that the controversy surrounding building on West Ranch outside the UGB should be resolved before we agree to the tax. And again, it'snot a good time for a property tax increase (see Ref 3A above). (54% of Audience voted NO on 3B.)
Referendum 4A: 0.4% Sales Tax increase and $44,555,000 debt authority for Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) for buses, road improvements, bus stations, maintenance facilities and parking areas.
NO. While RFTA is a valuable regional service agency, it needs to focus on the basics and factually demonstrate the benefit of BRT. Besides, this is a big sales tax hike that represents millions in new government spending during a downturn in the economy. (85% of Audience voted NO 4A.)
The BOCC Races
At this early stage in her life, The Red Ant is not going to endorse candidates. That is, other than Shellie Roy. (When one's opponent declines to participate and makes a fuss in the local papers, The Red Ant hates apathy and happily endorses the campaigning candidate willing to show up and communicate with the citizens. So, the Ant would vote for Shellie Roy in BOCC District 3.)
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Additional Information:
Summarized Pro/Con Statements
Forum speakers took a lot of time to prepare written, concise informational statements on their positions. Please reference for further information.
http://theredant.squarespace.com/storage/ForumHandout1-3.pdf
http://theredant.squarespace.com/storage/BOCCanswers.pdf
Don Davidson, CPA, summarized the impact of all of the proposed taxes--click hereTax Impact Schedule.
which is helpful in getting a sense of the combined personal impact of the taxes on the ballot.
Grassroots TV Broadcast
If you missed the forum, you may see it on Grassroots (channel 12 or over the internet on the same schedule http://www.grassrootstv.org/liveweb.html)
Friday 10.24 10 p.m., Saturday 10.25 5 p.m., Sunday 10.26 1:30 p.m.
REMEMBER: Election Day is Tuesday, November 4. (The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November - remember that from civics class?) Vote. It's your right and responsibility. Democracy works because Americans participate!
We are always interested in your comments. Post them below.
October 23
Reader Comments (1)
Marilyn, Thanks for doing this. It feels good to know someone is out there making appropriate challanges. Do you feel that it is unfair that taxpayers in the City of Aspen have an additional tax burden paying for many things of which the entire communtiy (county) benifits. If these taxes were spead across the county on appropriate issues the taxation would seem more fair and greatly reduce the tax burden on commercial and city tax payers who, in most cases, have no additional benefit than those outside the city limits. Not having explored this, I do not know if the governments and taxing should be combined or if some issues that service the entire county could somehow not be city tax but a county tax. Sally