A telling juxtaposition about our state budget. Open the Books? Yes. It's our money. Hey Dolores Canyon, you're next!
A telling juxtaposition.
Take a look at the headlines of the two articles I link to below. I put them side by side in a screenshot to help suggest what I am driving at.
No money for property tax relief, yes money for EV chargers.
There are those that would probably prioritize EV chargers ahead of property tax relief. How about you?
I know that I would rather have my money to spend for my family instead of helping to calm the "range anxiety" of the mostly-wealthier EV buyers in this state.
Unfortunately the Democrats calling the shots don't seem to see it that way.
Remember this for when you hear whining about money in the state budget. It is a case of priorities not limitations.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/04/04/colorado-2024-2025-state-budget-property-tax-cuts/
https://coloradosun.com/2024/04/05/colorado-adding-ev-chargers-fast-stations/
Open the books. Hear hear.
A reader shared something with me recently and I wanted to pass that along to you as well.
The site linked first below is called Open the Books and I've been poking around in there since hearing of it. Interesting site to explore in. Seems thus far to be mainly financial transparency, though I may find other things as I explore more.
If you are a fan of financial transparency, you'll find a bunch of stuff in there, both at the federal and state level. For instance, I used their search function to look up salaries for Logan County, CO. I attached a screenshot of the time series it gave me which was right above a breakdown of salary by year and by employee.
I also ran a screenshot of CU Boulder employee salaries** and attached that. My goodness, look at that salary growth!
If you look at the flyer I attached, Open the Books is currently testing an AI search assistant, which I tried a little too. Searched for Gov Polis and I got the table below. Clearly the governor's office isn't a money-maker (though I don't think Gov Polis cares).
Thus far what I'm seeing is mainly salaries, but I'll keep poking around and sharing interesting things as I find them. If you do some digging and find something noteworthy. Please feel free to share.
One last thing. I like to know who's buying my drinks so to speak and so I looked up Open the Books on Influence Watch. I linked to that page second below if you'd like to read up.
**As a state employee, my salary is public record and I'm likely in there. I didn't look for myself, but you're welcome to. My school gets periodic CORA requests from unions on fishing expeditions so I'm used to it.
https://www.openthebooks.com/
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/american-transparency/
Related:
A recent KDVR news story came out listing the top 10 (by wage) state employees In Colorado (see the CU Boulder salary graph in the post above--significant overlap there).
Quick notes/thoughts: these folks all earn a whole order of magnitude more than the governor, and high school principals in my district start at $85,000 a year.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/the-10-highest-paid-state-employees-in-colorado-all-make-over-900k-a-year/
Hey Dolores Canyon, you're next!
Check out the article below. What they do here, they can repeat in other places (and will likely try).
Whether you live in the area, speak up for your fellow Coloradans so that those that live in the area can have a voice in what happens where they live (instead of environmentalists bending Biden's ear to get what they want).
Start here. If you haven't yet, contact Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and tell them that any change to the Dolores River Basin in Colorado MUST have local voices involved. The links to their pages are 2nd and 3rd below the Sun story.
I am looking into other ways to get involved now and will share as I find them.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/04/03/biden-mineral-withdrawal-thompson-divide/
https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/office-locations/
https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact