{"id":800851,"date":"2019-10-30T17:30:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T23:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373804"},"modified":"2019-10-30T17:30:49","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T23:30:49","slug":"opinion-mike-tabb-it-is-time-for-state-and-local-budget-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/opinion-mike-tabb-it-is-time-for-state-and-local-budget-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | Mike Tabb: It is time for state and local budget discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
Mike Tabb<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The high
\ncost of living in Summit County is a first-hand experience for all of us.<\/p>\n

The
\nsupporters of the ballot measures this November to raise your taxes play on the
\nfeel-good aspect of increased government spending and ignore the very real
\ncontribution of state and local taxes to your cost of living.<\/p>\n

With few
\nexceptions, our county, school district and state budgets increase every year. There
\nis only so much tax paying capacity for our taxpayers, and it is time to hold
\nour politicians at all levels accountable for a lack of discipline in prioritizing
\nprogram spending.<\/p>\n

Proposition
\nCC: Vote no<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colorado
\nvoters passed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Amendment to the state constitution
\nin 1992 to provide protections against unchecked government spending that leads
\nto massive debt like we see at the federal level and in some states like
\nCalifornia.<\/p>\n

TABOR has
\ntwo main provisions. First, it limits spending increases to population growth plus
\ninflation. Second, any revenue collected above this increase must be returned
\nto taxpayers as a refund.<\/p>\n

Proposition
\nCC would permanently eliminate the refund provision. Supporters of
\nProposition CC claim it is necessary to fund unmet needs for K-12 education,
\nhigher education and transportation.<\/p>\n

We do not
\nhave a revenue problem. We have a spending priority problem. In the past 10
\nyears, the state budget has increased from $19.9 billion to $32.5 billion for
\nfiscal year 2020.<\/p>\n

We have been
\ndown this road before. Referendum C, passed in 2005, specified a five-year
\nsuspension of the refund provision. While the excess revenue from Referendum C
\nwas intended for public education, health care and transportation, legislative
\nmanipulation reduced general fund appropriations to these areas to effectively
\ndivert the increased revenue to other programs.<\/p>\n

Do not buy
\ninto the propaganda that this is not a new tax. If the state keeps more of your
\nmoney, your taxes will go up. In an Oct. 3 editorial, The Denver Post labeled
\nProposition CC fatally flawed and recommended a no vote.<\/p>\n

Proposition
\nDD: Vote no<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supporters
\nof DD claim the money raised from the fees\/taxes imposed on casinos that offer
\nsports betting will be used to protect our water rights. The Colorado Water Plan
\nadopted in 2015 is long on lofty goals and empty of specific plans.<\/p>\n

Estimates for
\nimplementation range from $20 billion to $40 billion. The highest estimates of
\ntax revenue from this measure do nothing to address the Water Plan in any
\nmeaningful way, and its vague language on how the money would be spent leaves
\nopen the opportunity for legislative manipulation of the general fund
\nappropriations.<\/p>\n

Its
\nsupporters have tied funding water projects to make one feel good about
\nexpanding legalized gambling in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Measure
\n4A: Vote no<\/strong><\/p>\n

Measure 4A
\nasks voters to allow Summit School District to reallocate money that originally
\nwas earmarked for full-day kindergarten. A no vote is not against the intent of
\nthe highlighted issues in the measure but rather how they are funded.<\/p>\n

First, it is
\nmisleading to imply it is not a new tax and that taxes will not go up. If it is
\nnot a new tax, why was a TABOR notice of election required? Second, if assessed
\nvalues rise, your taxes must increase. Third, unlike the original 2007 measure,
\nthis measure does not dedicate the increased revenue to a specific purpose. It
\nonly states an intended purpose and leaves open its use based on the discretion
\nof the school board. Since this measure has an open-ended time frame, there is
\nlittle doubt the money will be moved around to other purposes.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the
\nschool board has not been held accountable in setting spending priorities. The
\nCoordinated Election Notice shows district fiscal year spending has increased
\nnearly $11 million since the 2015-16 school year, a 24% increase. Fiscal year
\nspending for 2020-21 will increase an additional $4.3 million without the
\nproposed tax increase. Citing total enrollment figures published by the Colorado
\nDepartment of Education, the district\u2019s total enrollment has increased from
\n3,346 students in 2015-16 to 3,438 in 2018-19, an increase of 92 students. It
\nis time for the school District to learn to live within its existing revenue
\nstreams.<\/p>\n

Measures
\n1A and 1B: Vote no<\/strong><\/p>\n

The county\u2019s
\nbudget has grown from $52.2 million in 2015 to a projected $71.9 million in
\n2020 without the estimated revenue from these two measures; that is a 37.7% increase.
\nThese measures (nicotine tax and open space funding) are wrapped in language
\nthat emphasize good intentions to justify additional taxes. It is time to ask
\nthe county to show discipline in setting program priorities with existing
\nrevenue streams. The added intent of the nicotine tax to control\/dictate
\nindividual behavior is a government overreach.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike TabbCourtesy photo The high cost of living in Summit County is a first-hand experience for all of us. The supporters of the ballot measures this November to raise your taxes play on the feel-good aspect of increased government spending and ignore the very real contribution of state and local taxes to your cost of […]<\/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-800851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 20:08:33","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\/800851","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=800851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}