Dear Editor:
Crafting local policy can be a real challenge. It’s nearly impossible to solve one problem without knowingly or unknowingly affecting many other issues. Add to this the intricacies of state-wide fiscal policy, the compounding complexity of multiple ballot initiatives, and mix them all together over thirty-plus years of an ever-changing economy and you have a soup sandwich I refer to as the Gallagher/TABOR mess. I support CMC’s 4B as a local solution to this mess.
By passing the Gallagher Amendment thirty-three years ago when Colorado was in the midst of a nasty recession, I suspect the voters were wanting to jumpstart the economy by encouraging residential development. Talk about being wildly successful! As a result of Gallagher, the residential assessment rate has declined by over two-thirds. This has been a boon for homeowners, but a huge burden for business owners, particularly in rural Colorado. And, because of what I consider to be unintended consequences of TABOR, Gallagher has created a huge shortfall of revenue for special districts like CMC and others.
(BTW, I call them unintended consequences because I for one wasn’t a savvy enough voter in 1992 to possibly understand the enormous consequences of TABOR. Sure I wanted the ability to vote on all taxes, but I didn’t want to introduce a debilitating formula of revenue destruction that is proving nearly impossible to adjust with the changing times. I suspect the same was true for many voters for Gallagher in 1982.)
In what I consider to be a creative but transparent measure, CMC is one of, if not the only district that is proposing a fix that allows the state to maintain the amendment’s intent, while allowing the our region to make local improvements to this mess. I support 4B as a good policy fix, but more importantly I know that without such a fix, CMC would be much less able to serve as the incredible resource it has been for so many of us in the community. Please vote yes on 4B and become more savvy on the Gallagher/TABOR soup sandwich at www.YESon4B.org.
Dan Richardson
Carbondale
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