Martin urges voters to support property tax increase
Colorado Springs Councilwoman Jan Martin on Thursday implored voters to support a property tax increase in November or live in a city with shuttered pools and community centers, brown parks, diminished transit services and fewer police officers and firefighters.
“The list (of cuts) goes on and on and on,” Martin said after kicking off her “A City Worth Fighting For” campaign outside the Pioneers Museum, which also is on the chopping block in the city’s 2010 budget.
“It’s really the heart and soul of our community that is at stake,” she said.
Martin wants voters to increase the city’s property tax mill levy by 10 mills over five years, with six mills in the first year and then one additional mill every year after that.
If the increase is approved by voters, the owner of a home valued at $262,000 would pay an additional $126 in property taxes in the first year and $210 more at the end of five years, she said.
The campaign is being co-chaired by former Councilwoman Mary Ellen McNally and J.J. Halsey of the Colorado Springs Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 5.
“This is a dire situation,” said Halsey, a 15-year veteran. “Something has to be done because we’re getting to that point of no return.”
Longtime Springs resident Dean Tollefson, who attended the kick-off ceremony, said he contributed $100 to the campaign.
“I’d like to have a civilized city,” he said. “We have to do this and a lot more to have a civilized city. Civilizations now are expensive.”
Tollefson, 77, got into a verbal altercation with anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce after the event.
“You are an authentic (expletive),” Tollefson told Bruce, who didn’t back down.
“There are a lot of people who want to do nothing but sit and wait and die and scratch when they itch,” Tollefson said, referring to Bruce. “This is sad because that’s not what it takes to have a civilization and a civilized city.”
For more information about the campaign, go to www.cityworthfightingfor.com.
For more city government news, visit my blog, City Desk, at http://citydesk.freedomblogging.com/
