AURORA | Aurora City Council members June 11 agreed to move forward with a study to see if Aurora would benefit from being its own city and county.
The analysis would cost between $125,000 and $225,000, according to Jason Batchelor, the city’s finance director. City officials will try to complete the analysis before the original April 2013 target date. Aurora would then solicit input from residents in 2013 or 2014, and if residents agree that the city should move forward with the idea, city officials will lobby the Colorado Legislature to place a city/county question on the statewide ballot in November 2016. The lobby effort would cost between $15,000 and $75,000, according to Batchelor’s projections. If voters approve the ballot question, Aurora could become a city and county by 2019.
In other council news, Aurora City Council members June 11 approved a ballot question that will ask voters this November whether they want to extend a property tax mill levy set to expire in 2015. If it’s approved, revenue from the tax extension would be used to fund several transportation and infrastructure projects. The list of projects includes:
• Chambers Road and Colfax Avenue intersection improvements
• Colfax Avenue pedestrian crossing enhancements
• Local bicycle access on the Fitzsimons Campus
• Montview Boulevard improvements from Peoria Street to Fitzsimons Parkway
• Arapahoe Road improvements from Waco Street to Himalaya Street
• Widening of Gun Club Road between Quincy Avenue and Aurora Parkway
For more information, visit
auroragov.org.