Dear Editor:
Affordable higher education is a service essential to the lives of many young Americans like me, and to the economy; local and as a whole. Colorado Mountain College provides that service for our community. CMC was created fifty years ago by a 2 to 1 vote, and it is to this day the only post-secondary education institution in our community; it remains the most affordable school in the state, and has the third most affordable bachelor’s degree program in the United States as a whole. Further, CMC provides free college education to our community’s high school students, giving them a literal head start when they go to college.
I write to ask you vote yes on Measure 4B. The growing property values in the front range are triggering downward adjustments in the Gallagher Amendment tax rates, compromising local funding for the college. Measure 4B would allow CMC’s elected board to recover any funding lost because of adjustments of the Gallagher Amendment rates bi-annually.
I want to be honest. I am a student of Colorado Mountain College, not a homeowner. I don’t pay property tax because I don’t own any property. Your vote on 4B directly impacts my life, and the lives of the young Americans of our community. As homeowners, you have contributed $32 per $100,000 of property value, to the college and to educating your young fellow Americans. CMC is asking, through 4B, to keep that rate at its current level to ensure that future generations of our community’s students have access to an affordable higher education. CMC’s board of Trustees are elected officials; they are responsible for operating the college efficiently, and keeping the cost among the most affordable in the nation.
Vote YES on 4B to continue to support this local college. Visit www.yeson4b.org and www.facebook.com/Yeson4b for more information.
Danny Arenales
CMC Student