Below is this week’s email from Rebecca at Springs Taxpayers United. Follow the money. My challenge to all of you is to be like Bereans, looking for yourselves. Click their links, investigate, and make your decisions on voting based on facts as opposed to Agendas from politicians and government.
On the ballot, I voted for Amy Shandy and Derrick Wilburn for D 20 School board,
Proposition 4A is important. Below, Springs taxpayers link to an article on 4A. My opinion is that I want to give our teachers a pay raise. Up here on the North end of town, Teachers and young families cannot afford homes. As a result, they either leave the district or don’t come here. The Pay raise will ensure that more of them stay in their classrooms, even if they can’t afford homes in the school district they teach in.
Proposition 4A also takes on the D 20 deferred maintenance problem that is HUGE. At present, there is a $300 Million deferred maintenance list, most in D 20’s oldest schools on the west side of the district. 4A will cost D 20 taxpayers around $2.80 per $100,000 of home value… The problem for me, as Army retired on a fixed income, is voting Yes when my property tax assessment, home insurance, and cost of living are shooting through the roof. I finally voted Yes on Prop 4A because I want the great teachers in D 20 to stay and for our schools to be safe for our kids and grandkids.
Y’all make your own decisions, but Prop HH got a definite HELL NO and thumbs down from me. Please read the articles linked in Rebecca’s email below.
Jay
Election Day Approaches, Prop HH Deception, Legislature has Big Plans to Pick Our Pockets, and More!
Here are some of the stories we are following this week. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-the-minute news.
Governor Polis has the power to call for a special session to address property taxes. But he hasn’t, and he won’t. Why? Because he and his caucus would rather leverage the looming property tax disaster to eliminate TABOR refunds once and for all, and Proposition HH does just that.
Advocates of Prop HH are being deliberately deceptive. It’s not complicated: a tax reduction does not need to go to a popular vote. Taking your TABOR refunds forever does.
Is now a good time to ask for more tax money from Academy School District 20 residents? The districts certainly thinks so.
Colorado Springs voters will be voting on a $4.75 million TABOR retention measure to fund a new police academy. Again, we’d like to ask a question: What is happening to the almost $39 million the city has raked in from red-light cameras?
Colorado Springs Utilities is currently attempting to justify the huge mistake of building a 60-foot tall water tower in Mountain Shadows when the approved plans only allowed for a 45-foot tall water tower. Where do you see this ending? Will CSU get their way?
Apparently, being a rubber stamp for developers leads to receiving awards. The Colorado Springs Planning Department has received two awards from the Colorado chapter of the American Planning Association.
Election Day is next Tuesday. Here are voting locations in El Paso County.
One bill coming up in the next legislative session will punish you financially if you drive a larger vehicle. Their rationale for this is that, larger vehicles are “…more often involved in fatalities and serious injuries…”in pedestrian and bicycle accidents. No data indicating this has yet been provided.
Ironically, the most popular vehicle in Colorado is the Ford F-150 pickup truck. Do you think greedy legislators knew this before crafting this punitive legislation?
Governor Jared Polis has released his proposed budget for 2024. We can all guess which direction the state budget goes.
The Colorado Department of Human Services has been sued for failure to provide services, mostly to the homeless and mentally ill. However, they also apparently have some funds to award to other organizations who may have solutions to this backlog.
Some homeowners in Colorado are seeing dramatic increases in their homeowner insurance premiums. Are you seeing increases in your insurance premiums?
Colorado Springs Utilities is offering assistance to those struggling with winter utility bills. Also, the defeat of Ballot Issue 2A will offer some relief, since a TABOR refund would be credited to your utility bill. Food for thought.
Could you imagine raw sewage backing up into your house due to a failure of the city sewage system? Well, disgusting as it is, it happens. Colorado Springs Utilities has demonstrated an unwillingness to take responsibility, even when it is clearly their responsibility. They do this by either denying claims outright, or dragging their feet when paying out on expensive claims they can’t back out of. Not very good customer service in our opinion.
A panel in Colorado has turned down the idea of taxpayer-funded safe drug injection sites in the state. Do you think the legislature will still push for this in the coming session? Why does your elected legislature continue to push for accommodation of drug addicts rather than treatment or prevention?
Also in 2024 legislature news, legislators are pursuing a giant increase in the tax on short-term rental properties. They can never get enough of your money, folks.
You may recall that the Colorado Department of Higher Education suffered a data breach last summer, and substantial amounts of private student information was stolen. We’re learning now that the department ignored the reporting law for data breaches. Laws are for the little people.
If you would like to help support us in our mission as government watchdogs by becoming a Newsletter Sponsor, we are offering two sponsorships for each weekly newsletter, at the nominal cost of $100 each. Funds raised from these sponsorship opportunities will help us to keep looking out for taxpayers.
Rebecca
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