On Wednesday, September 18, 2013, the Strasburg 31J School Board voted unanimously (3-0) to endorse and support Amendment 66, a ballot initiative that will raise income taxes in the State of Colorado for ALL Coloradoans. If passed, it will result in the loss of our flat tax system and would replace it with a two tier system in which the first $75,000 of combined household income would be taxed at a rate of 5%, up from the present 4.63%, and any amounts over $75,000 will be taxed at a rate of 5.9%. This will purportedly raise an additional $950,000.000.00 annually, above and beyond what is raised by taxes currently, ostensibly to go to education and our children. The three board members who were present (two were absent) apparently did not have much in the way of information regarding Amendment 66 nor SB 213 and they had to rely on someone to brief them. The information given by the person briefing the board was not, in my opinion, complete, objective, nor accurate. Amendment 66 is the funding mechanism that is needed to implement recently passed SB 13-213. The provisions of SB 13-213 are disconcerting in that it changes the formula in which school districts receive money from the State of Colorado and it directs the Colorado Department of Education to determine the number of mills each School District will be expected to levy. [Source:” Understanding Senate Bill 13-213, August 2013” published by the Colorado Department of Education] This eliminates a School Board’s authority and discretion whether or not to call for a mill levy increase or not and transfers that authority to the Colorado Department of Education to determine. I would strongly urge everyone to GOOGLE “Understanding Senate Bill 13-213”, download it and read it. Had I been on the board at the time, I would have suggested the motion to vote on supporting and endorsing Amendment 66, and by extension, SB 13-213, be tabled until all board members had ample opportunity to become personally familiar with both Amendment 66 and SB 13-213. It is my concern that those who are promoting Amendment 66 will use School Board support and endorsement in the weeks to come in political advertisements on TV and Radio as well as newspaper editorial endorsements to garner support for this massive tax increase. It’s a shame that our School Board will be among those who will have been unwittingly used to promote Amendment 66.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 15:01:04 +0000
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