Brief by Central Staff
Politics – December 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Election spin
When they wrote about the mountains, the Denver papers seemed to interpret last month’s election returns as anti-growth and anti-tax.
But if there was such a pattern, we missed it.
Salida voters approved a tax increase to pay for library expansion, while voting against expanding the golf course from nine to eighteen holes — something that could still happen anyway.
Buena Vistans likewise approved more money for their library (a mill good for about $40,000 a year), but voted overwhelmingly against a recreation district which would have built a $2.3 million center.
Despite acres of printed controversy, Cotopaxi approved a school bond.
So schools and libraries get money, and everybody else doesn’t?
No, because in Custer County, a bond issue for school expansion was defeated 562-365, and a tax increase for the library went down 611-340.
Custer didn’t defeat everything on the ballot, though; a two-mill levy to provide $80,000 for a new 911 emergency telephone system passed 598-409.
See a pattern yet? We don’t, either.
Park County voters split on school bonds. On this side, the school district passed a $7 million bond for school enlargement and improvement, but over around Bailey, which is a different school district, a new middle school went down 902-594.
For another example of South Park diversity, Lake George Fire District voters turned down a tax increase, while Platte Canyon Fire District approved one.
In a non-binding referendum concerning what, if any actions, the county should take toward a proposed Central Colorado Regional Airport near Hartsel (we like the name, anyway), voters said “no” by a 1593-969 margin.
You’re welcome to find a theme in all this. We can’t.