AURORA | City voters said yes to more taxes on recreational marijuana and no to increased spending on roads and public safety.
Based on the returns from Arapahoe County, Aurora voters backed a 2 percent sales tax on retail marijuana products, and a 5 percent excise tax on bulk, wholesale marijuana, by a 63 percent to 36 percent margin. The taxes are supposed to generate about $2.5 million annually from the city’s recently launched recreational marijuana businesses on top of the $2.8 million the city is already expecting to receive from retail marijuana and grow sales with no special tax.
On city question 2B, voters rejected a property tax that would have generated about $5 million annually for local transportation projects. The measure was voted down 64 percent to 35 percent. That money would have funded $75 million worth of transportation and infrastructure projects that have been needed since 2012. Aurora City Councilman Bob LeGare, who spearheaded the ballot question, said that’s out of $500 million needed to maintain the city’s extensive network of streets, highways, and bike and pedestrian trails.
Voters also said no to city question 2C, which would have raised $6 million in a year in property taxes to fund improvements at police and fire stations. Aurora City Councilwoman Barb Cleland said that money would have gone toward updating the city’s older fire houses, which in some areas have gone decades without renovations.
We pay enough taxes to already pay for police and roads. Stop building bike paths and bridges for bikes and spend the money on roads. Charge all these new developments to put in the roads and to maintain them as you did all the developments that are here. I am tired of crappy roads in the city only to drive into neighborhoods with no traffic and 4 lane roads. Stop building out in Kansas and take care of the city. Stop wasting money on the great downtown Aurora rebuild, 2-3 times over the last 20 years only to have the ghetto rats tear it apart.
We passed a bill to pay for 2 per 1000 cops years ago and you never met that quota. You placed to many officers in special positions and made to many supervisors and cut back on the number of officers on the street or at least kept it close to the same.
Stop wasting money on fence committees and crap like that and actually listen to citizens that are united and against something, like a fence project instead of wasting time and money on something 12 people in a neighborhood wants. You refuse to listen to a majority of homeowners and pushed your agenda through, which got defeated soundly and was a huge waste of money to the city and the residence of the neighborhood.
Spend money wisely, act like you care and spend it like it’s actually coming out of your pocket.
Jerry, Aurora did meet the 2/1000 mandate albeit through a law suite by the Aurora police union in 2002, in fact this is one of the contributing causes to Aurora’s structural deficiency.
The sales tax increase approved in 1992 was to help support 2/1000, to be used to help buy equipment and to support Aurora’s jail. Needless to say all of the sales tax increase went to 2/1000; it was not enough then, is not be enough now and will never be enough to fund 2/1000.
The staffing mandate was modified in 2011 when Auroras’s Council Members authorized a $2000 bonus per police officer over a two year period if the police uninon members would vote for the modification. The Police Union overwhelmingly approved the modification. 2022 will see the Police Staffing Mandate go to the new, approved and improved level of 1.9/1000.
You’re facts are way, way off. Many cities fund well over 2 per 1000 without added tax. No one was given 2k to vote one way or the other
What does “without add tax” mean? No two cites have the same tax base so comparing different budgets is pointless.
Have you ever driven around Arvada? The idiotic bike lanes make it a nightmare. Put forward a bill that fixes roads and doesn’t promise {insert dirty word here} BIKE PATHS and i will vote for it.
Thats what the marijuana tax should be used for instead of just raising taxes on people.
They tell us they need this increase because the cost of doing these things keeps going up, yet they are also telling us there is little to no inflation. Obviously they haven’t had to buy food lately. Also, the worth of my property, (which they are asking for a tax raise on) is going up, so they are already getting more in taxes every year as our property value goes up. Yes they took a big hit when the recession hit, but so did we all. The rest of us had to tighten our belt, they can do the same. I haven’t gotten a raise since 2008, why should they. Suck it up, find where you can cut, keep the necessities and live with it, just like John Q Public (who, I remind you, you are suppose to represent). I guess they have been in office so long, they no longer remember what it was like to create something, so they made a wage by creating, instead of taking other people’s money to spend without regard for being a good steward of the people’s money.
I don’t trust the city leaders. You ask us for new taxes to fund every little thing, yet you built your Taj Majal on Alameda with no vote at all. You ask us to vote for library funding that will return the regular library budget to the general fund — a money grab for other spending. You try to scare us into paying more for police. You won’t get rid of the universally despised red light cameras. Is it any wonder the public is cynical about increased taxes?
The reason I voted no on 2B and 2C is because they wanted to make home owners pay the tax instead of all citizens. Why should home owners pay these taxes instead of everyone?
I voted no on B and C because the council agrees to PAY a large corporation (Gaylord) to come here, excuse any and all fees, taxes, etc, for 30 years, but they want the homeowners to PAY MORE! 🙁 STOP the corporate WELFARE!!
There is a pervasive attitude among Aurora City Council members that reeks of Jonathan Gruber (The architect of Obamacare).
When you shop at Southlands, Aurora Town Center and Gardens on Havana, you pay a “fee” for sewer construction and redesign, water, etc. When will the shoppers be done paying? Never.
They already charge another “fee” for police and fire protection on sales receipts. Furthermore, we are still paying for 2 per 1,000 and don’t have it.
A-Town needs to pick these old crows off their council seats every time they run for another term. Stop allowing them to be a council person, then an at large person, then the mayor and so on. Get all fresh people who are fiscally responsible with our tax dollars!
Also, keep saying no to property tax increase’ when the neighborhoods are run down and over run with crime/criminals.