{"id":800370,"date":"2019-10-14T13:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T19:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=372979"},"modified":"2019-10-14T13:30:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T19:30:03","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-of-temporary-mill-levies-and-other-fairy-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/letter-to-the-editor-of-temporary-mill-levies-and-other-fairy-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the editor: Of \u2018temporary\u2019 mill levies and other fairy tales"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/06\/LettersWebCard-SDN1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Robert Peterson\u2019s letter to the editor in Friday\u2019s Summit Daily News was dead on (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/letter-to-the-editor-read-ballot-initiative-language-and-make-an-informed-vote\/\">Read ballot initiative language and make an informed vote<\/a>\u201c). \u201cAll of the initiatives are open ended.\u201d With the exception of the Peak 7 paving issue, they all exempt themselves permanently from TABOR.<\/p>\n<p>1A, the tax on tobacco and e-cigarettes, uses a coy disguise for what it truly is, a permanent increase in county spending revenues. As in last year\u2019s hog trough 1A spending initiative funded by a 10-year \u201ctemporary\u201d mill levy, it tugs at your heart strings with a plea: \u201cTobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in Colorado.\u201d No informed person will dispute this. Then why aren\u2019t the funds they are asking for permanently dedicated to this one issue? As Robert suggests, \u201ccarefully read the ballot initiative language.\u201d The exact language states, \u201cBut not limited to.\u201d In people language, we are handing them a blank check to use as they please after it gets approved in this underhanded manner. Permanently and irrevocably use the money for the stated purpose, and I\u2019m with you.<\/p>\n<p>4A is a permanent extension of a mill levy for kindergarten passed in 2007. Once again, it tugs at your heart strings until you read further. This one is especially deceptive as it talks of money to attract teachers and enhance counseling and mental health programs. The exact language states, \u201cTo be deposited in the general fund and used for educational purposes but not limited to.\u201d This is nothing more than an outright spending increase to be used however the school district wishes. Mandate the funds solely and permanently for the stated purpose, and I\u2019m with you.<\/p>\n<p>Please read them for yourself. Any time initiative wording includes, \u201cwithout increasing current tax rates,\u201d I immediately get suspicious. When they exempt themselves permanently from TABOR, my vote is no on all the issues.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/letter-to-the-editor-of-temporary-mill-levies-and-other-fairy-tales\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Peterson\u2019s letter to the editor in Friday\u2019s Summit Daily News was dead on (\u201cRead ballot initiative language and make an informed vote\u201c). \u201cAll of the initiatives are open ended.\u201d With the exception of the Peak 7 paving issue, they all exempt themselves permanently from TABOR. 1A, the tax on tobacco and e-cigarettes, uses a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 18:10:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}