Grand Junction Sentinel
State lawmakers will try once again to place a measure onto the ballot to change the way ballot measures get onto the ballot.
Rep. Lois Court said she’s hopeful this time Colorado voters will agree that something needs to be done to protect the state’s Constitution from contradictory proposals that oftentimes aren’t written well, or have far-reaching unintended consequences.
The Denver Democrat, who is one of a long line of lawmakers regardless of political ilk to attempt such changes, hopes this effort will be more successful than previous attempts.
Unlike those efforts, including Referendum O in 2008 that lost by less than 3 percentage points, Court’s new idea would make only a few changes, and focuses only on proposed constitutional amendments.
Coloradans will get to weigh in on the health care overhaul this fall with a ballot measure that attempts to block the government from requiring people to have health insurance. The Colorado Secretary of State today announced that backers of the ballot initiative collected the required number of signatures for inclusion on this fall’s ballot. Amendment 63 was pushed by conservative groups who feel the new health insurance mandate is an overreach.
Passage of the three measures that have been approved for the Nov. 2 ballot in Colorado could cost the city of Grand Junction more than 10 percent of its budget next year, according to preliminary estimates from the city’s financial services department. The city’s 2010 budget totals $134 million. Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101 would limit local and state governments’ ability to withhold property tax surpluses or go into debt and would decrease certain taxes and eliminate others on select items.
Seated behind the dais in the City Hall auditorium virtually a year ago to the date, weighing whether to ask city residents to approve a sales-tax hike to pay for new police and fire buildings, then-Grand Junction City Councilman Doug Thomason voiced the prevailing opinion of the council. “It’s not a real tough decision,” Thomason said. “The need has been clearly identified.” At the time, western Colorado was holding its own against a sinking national economy. Virtually anyone who wanted a job had one. Sales-tax revenue continued to roll in.
The Grand Junction City Council will decide Aug. 19 whether to go before voters again in November and ask for a sales-tax increase to pay for a pared-down package of new police and fire buildings. If council members choose to ask city residents to bump up the sales-tax rate a quarter-cent, they also will decide which one of five projects ranging in price from $53 million to $78 million they will tie to the question.