Wait, a government taxing district VOLUNTARILY folded and will give back the $$? The AQCC justifies their extreme rule with shaky assumptions. JeffCo teachers union and teachers need to be called out.
Some curiosities related to looking up my local property tax boards.
The posts on Friday outlined looking up the local property tax boards and reaching out to them. There are a couple of interesting tidbits that didn't quite fit, so I abstracted them out here.
First, in talking with a friend, I was reminded that one of my taxing districts, the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, has been in the news lately.
In the news because they're getting sued for raising their mill levy without asking voters first! See the article linked below for reference**
My friend pointed out that any email sent to them about lowering the mill rate or returning surplus, "windfall" monies from high property taxes would likely not succeed.
Yeah, my guess is he's right. A board that would do something like these folks did is not likely to give back of their own accord; they had to be sued over their 0.5 mill grab after all.
Still, I think it's worth the price of an email.
The other interesting tidbit, is that one of the other agencies that would have taxed me higher this year, will not.
They will not because they won't exist! The Logan County Water Conservancy District is disbanding after 20 years. Unable to realistically accomplish their mission of a dam to prevent a flood in Logan County, they're folding up their tents and calling it a day.
Any assets and money they had will be returned to the county.
I reached out to one of my county commissioners, Jerry Sonnenberg, to ask if he was aware (he was) and what the county plans to do with the money. Seems like they plan to return it to taxpayers.
This is a prime example of why I say that it's worth the time to write and speak with your elected and non-elected officials.
Yes, it can be a waste of time, but you never are sure. It may not be. You don't know what you'll find and you don't know how things will shake out. I had no earthly idea that the Logan County District was folding up and no idea about the money coming back to the county, until I reached out to them.
Similarly, I believe the county commissioners had already decided to return the money prior to speaking to Mr. Sonnenberg, but in case anyone had wavered, I had a chance to let them know where I stood to bolster their decision.
Take the time out of your day to contact your local property tax boards. Speak up.
One last thing. Just because it made me chuckle. The Reagan quote attached is a favorite and I've used it before. When the gentleman I spoke to at the Logan County water district told me they folded and were returning the money he and I both had a laugh thinking about this quote.
I guess Reagan had it wrong in this particular instance!
**The people suing are represented by the Public Trust Institute. I tried to contact them to see where that lawsuit was but didn't hear as of this writing. If I do, I'll update.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/colorado/article_0bfd3bd8-43fc-11ec-963e-f7c13c46659b.html
The unelected Air Quality Control Commission is relying on some rather shaky and questionable assumptions when they tell you that their new rule about large buildings will save money.
When I saw the articles come out on the AQCC's new ruling, many included the top line from the AQCC's report that for every $1 spent $3.60 will be saved.
That caught my eye and so I looked into their process and found that this number is, well, shaky at best.
I wrote it as an op ed rather than a post here. It's linked below.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/09/05/gaines-colorados-extreme-air-quality-rules-based-on-flawed-findings/
JeffCo Teachers Union and any teacher who hides what they’re doing from parents needs to be called out and disciplined.
I'm not going to wade in on pronouns. I'm not going to wade in on whether or not schoolkids should be allowed to dress as or be referred to as the opposite gender.
I am going to wade in (and do so as one who is strongly in opposition) on the issue of whether or not a school or a teacher should ever do something that has to be hidden from parents.
I am also going to call out the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA), the teacher's union for the district, on their enabling and recommending teachers do something like that.
Not okay.
It is a parent's right to know what their schools are doing and what their students are doing in class.
Period.
End of story.
It is wholly inappropriate for the teachers and the union to circumvent parents. Even if you don't care or even support their reasoning for doing so in this case, I would like to provide you an analogy.
When someone comes to you to gossip about someone else, do you ask yourself whether or not this person is doing the same about you to others?
When you catch someone lying about something small, do you trust them to tell the truth all the time?
I think your answers to the above make my point. If the JeffCo teachers lie about this and work to hide this from parents, if the union encourages, aids, and abets this behavior in this particular instance, do you trust them to not do so on other things?
Exactly.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-controversy-erupts-jefferson-county-teachers-union-educators-destroy-evidence-student-surveys-gender-identity/