AURORA | If Aurora became its own city and county, it might offer a better human services department for Aurora residents. It also might move into the 18th Judicial District instead of straddling two judicial districts, and it might annex land.
Aurora City Council members on April 29 said all of those items should be considered in a city and county feasibility study, which will be complete by the end of the year.
The feasibility study is being conducted by Maryland-based fiscal, economic and planning consultant firm TischlerBise.
City council members last year allocated $250,000 in the 2013 budget to pay for the study.
Council members said the only reason they would advocate for Aurora to become its own city and county would be if the study shows it would benefit Aurora residents.
“If we’re not going to provide better than what we have already then we’re wasting time here,” said Councilwoman Renie Peterson.
The earliest a county could be formed would be 2020. The state Legislature would have to agree to ask voters in the 2016 General Election whether they want to amend the Colorado Constitution and turn Aurora into a city and county.
By law, if Aurora became its own city and county it would have to either appoint its own clerk and recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner, assessor and surveyor or hold an election for some or all of those positions.
Aurora might also have to annex land in the process of transitioning to a city and county. That could be controversial, said Councilman Bob LeGare.
“I’m not interested in forcing anyone to be in Aurora that doesn’t want to be in Aurora,” LeGare said.
TischlerBise will give an update to council members in June.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
Aurora needs to annex before trying to be a city-county. Once those boundaries are set it becomes next to impossible to extend anywhere.
I believe council set the parameters for the consultants impact study at this study session. The consultants asked for direction on five issues. 1. City Boundary/Annexations 2. Judicial District 3. New County positions/ delivery options 5. Arapahoe County annexing Adams and Douglas County portions of Aurora
City Council approved this study in January with the stated purpose of improving services for Aurora’s citizens, saving Aurora’s tax payers money, citizen input, and having our own county court house; these were the first casualties in the process to become a city and county.
The Man of the Year, Mayor Hogan proved to be the man of the hour by getting the study moved forward using the current city limits of Aurora as the boundary for the new county, saving money by joining the 18th judicial district, keeping service levels the same as those provided by Adams and Arapahoe County, project new position costs via privatization of services, and eliminatiing the fifth option.
The rush to get this study completed this year did not mention citizen input but did acknowledge that there may need to be adjustments made during the process. These adjustment will be insignificant because the cost of new personnel will be minimal, costs of annexing vacant land “are covered through our existing growth policies”, and by getting the consultant to apply a multiplyer for any change in service level. Some Council Members suggested that any “excess revenue” for the new City and County of Aurora could be used for infrastructure or social services but that would be determined by the commissioners.
It will be interesting to follow the process, dicover the adjustments, listen to the political platitudes that will plug the holes, and for the opportunity to contribute our ideas on how the new county should operate.