At this point, you can probably recite every argument for and against Colorado’s candidates for Senate and governor. But matters closest to home and that arguably will have a much bigger impact in your life get little media attention. Aurora voters will decide four ballot propositions in addition to controversial state issues. Aurora’s question as to whether the city should repeal its ban on pit bulls has garnered quite a bit of attention. We have strongly endorsed against Prop 2D, ending the ban on pit bulls and the protection the ban has afforded the public.
We ask voters pay close heed to Aurora’s other three questions:
Yes on 2C: The need is great for Aurora cops, courts and firefighters
The city falls further and further behind in keeping up with Aurora’s aging firehouses, police stations and shared facilities. Proposition 2C would raise property taxes by 2 mills, costing the owner of a $200,000 home about $2.70 a month in new taxes.
That would raise about $6 million a year citywide for Aurora to save or borrow enough to make a dent in the growing list of capital improvements needed mainly to repair aging firestations. It’s a minimal tax that pays residents back in providing a safer place to live and work.
Yes on 2B: Better Aurora roads without new taxes
There’s a sure way to gauge the economic health of the city: traffic.
If gridlock and the apparent wear and tear on Aurora roads is an indication, the city is prospering mightily these days. Aurora is expanding steadily, and so, too, are the city’s growing pains. Aurora desperately needs dollars for new roads, wider roads and better roads. The problem? Far more needs than money.
2B asks voters to extend a property tax about to expire, and use the estimated $5 million a year it generates to try and keep up with the growing list of transportation projects.
If approved, the tax could fund about $75 million in transportation projects over the next 15 years. The tax is pretty minimal, costing the owner of a $200,000 home only about $2.25 a month.
A yes vote buys the city a specified transportation fund that lawmakers can use as needed, for transportation issues only. Likely suspects here include improvements in southeast Aurora, Parker Road, Chambers Road and the never ending mess on Mississippi Avenue and Colfax Avenue.
Yes on 2A: Aurora Retail Marijuana Tax
While the biggest incentive to legalize marijuana was to end the expensive practice of making criminals out of users, taxing the goods was a vital part of the argument.
Here we go, Aurora. As the city’s first retail marijuana shops start selling pot, consumers will pay only sales tax, unless voters approve an additional special sales tax.
2A would impose a 2 percent sales tax on retail marijuana products, and a 5 percent excise tax on bulk, wholesale marijuana.
The new taxes would generate about $2.5 million a year, in addition to the almost $3 million expected from existing sales taxes on marijuana purchases.
Despite loading up on local levies, and there are already hefty state taxes, the measure would allow Aurora pot shops bragging rights as having the lowest tax rate in the area, a potential marketing advantage, some pot-shop owners say. Maybe. But what it does do is allow Aurora to capitalize on luxury purchases that could help provide funding for a long list of city needs. We’ve already given the green light to Aurora shops and grow-facilities. This simply allows the city to reap the cash rewards. Vote yes.