In opposition to Boulder County Issue 1B
Why is it that the proponents of this tax have picked fire, forest management, and helicopter emergency search and rescue to fund with this tax?The answer is obvious: this is what the citizens legitimately care about.
Of course, the opponents of this tax find this to be nothing more than a cynical device to raise taxes. Shouldn't these very basic services be the first things funded by our taxes and not the last?
Would you vote for a tax that read: Should we raise taxes in order to fund consultant fees, retreats for high-level county employees, and the prosecution of medical marijuana users? Of course you wouldn't. But that is exactly what you are doing if you approve this tax. Money inside the government is "fungible". It can go from one place to another. Thus the commissioners come to you asking for money for services that you want even though those services have already (or should have already) been paid for.
Do you remember last year when the Commissioners pleaded with the voters for a tax increase for a jail expansion because the jail was bursting with inmates? It was only a month after the November 2003 election that the Camera reported that the jail population was the lowest in years.
Do not be fooled by this request for additional funds. This basic county service should be funded with the funds on hand. If the county needs more money for general purposes then let them ask the voters for a general tax increase and justify that increase instead of asking for the voters for money for a service that should already be fully funded.
They might as well be asking for guns for the police or hoses for the fire department: but we'd see through that ruse.
What Issue 1B is asking the voters to do is "earmark" funds for forest management, etc. What this does is make government inflexible; but it, of course, gives politicians the excuse to raise taxes. In years in which we have higher priority needs, the money earmarked for forest management might not be available for use in, say, airborne poison monitoring.
This is just a recipe for bad government. Our Commissioners should be free to move funds around depending on the current needs of the County. If our Commissioners need more money for basic services then they should be asking for a general tax increase and not use fire and forest management as an excuse to raise more money for a county that has already raised $4.7 million (See ballot issue 1C.) over its statutory authority.
Vote NO on 1B.
Ralph Shnelvar
1333 King Ave
Boulder, CO 80302
303-546-6125
ralphs@dos32.com