AURORA | Jails, fire houses and updated equipment for police and firefighters in the city need to be upgraded, and city council is hoping this is a good year to ask for money.
That’s according to city Councilwoman Barb Cleland who, along with the rest of the city council, initially approved a measure last week to ask Aurora voters in November for $6 million a year to upgrade facilities. The measure would add roughly $27 per month in property taxes to an
average Aurora home.
“There’s a lot of public safety issues,” said Cleland, who is chairwoman of the city council’s public safety committee. “As the city grows, we need the facilities.”
Specifically, Cleland pointed to upgrading the city’s older fire houses, which in some areas have gone decades without renovations.
Cleland said that additional money would help keep emergency response times low. Cleland said a citizen survey taken last year shows voters might be amenable to a tax increase.
The city is also asking residents to extend a property tax this year to fund road and transportations projects. If approved, millions of dollars could be directed at different public safety projects each year, Cleland said.
So I suppose these costs aren’t being rolled into whatever city-county merger the mayor keeps pursuing? How about we get the dispensaries up and running and use the tax revenues from them so Dan Oates’ replacement can have his/her playthings?
I would be happy if the money would make AFD’s paramedics better than they are right now.
Does this council have no shame? What happened to the tax dollars you collected from Aurora citizens over the years when you failed to provide 2 per 1,000 for us?
How will another 6 million “help keep emergency response times low”? You’re not saying you’ll hire more firefighters or cops. So….
Just curious, where have our tax dollars to maintain fire houses, been diverted to?