The Gazette

The first of almost a dozen ballot proposals to allow greater local control of oil and gas development cleared an important hurdle Friday, winning clearance from the Colorado Supreme Court.

Known as Initiative 75, for now, the proposed constitutional amendment would give local governments more control over businesses and corporations that impact the health and safety of a community. That would include oil and gas drilling and hydrolic fracturing operations, which are regulated at the state level with some input from local governments.

The Colorado Community Rights Network, which successfully backed voter-approved fracking regulations in Lafayette, is heading up the initiative.

In a show of early fireworks, a parade of people on Tuesday called for El Paso County commissioners to place two issues on the November ballot. Commissioners made no decision on either request presented during the meeting’s public-comment period: to reword a measure to extend term limits for some elected officials, and to increase sales tax by 0.15 of a cent to pay for park maintenance countywide.

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A group of medical marijuana supporters is trying to knock a measure off the Nov. 2 ballot. A lawsuit filed in 4th Judicial District Court on Monday aims to stop an initiative that would ban medical marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas of El Paso County. The lawsuit admittedly caught officials off guard. Ballots for next month’s general election have been printed and are scheduled to be sent Tuesday to residents who requested to vote by mail.

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A group that fell short of collecting the required number of voter signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot vowed Monday to get the job done by early next week. “If the (city) clerk needs more signatures, we’re going to get them for her,” said Kevin Walker, director of Citizens for Accountable Leadership.

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Dozens of existing medical marijuana dispensaries could be outlawed in Colorado Springs, and the mayor would have sweeping powers, including the authority to lower taxes, under two separate proposals making their way to the ballot. The effort to ban pot shops involves a man who says his two daughters died because of drug use. The proposal for a mayor with a wide range of powers involves anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce.

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More than 80 people participated in a town hall meeting Wednesday to learn about a proposal to change Colorado Springs’ system of government to a strong-mayor form. “This governance system is not anything new or radical,” said Mary Ellen McNally, a co-chair of Citizens for Accountable Leadership, which is proposing a November ballot initiative. “In fact, it is very similar to the structure … in our U.S. Constitution.”

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Two statewide initiatives that will reduce property taxes and slash fees on motor vehicles and cell phones have been certified and will be placed on the 2010 ballot. Amendment 60,  which would roll back property taxes, received 139,960 signatures, Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Rich Coolidge said Monday. After statistically sampling 5 percent of the signatures, the department concluded the backers had a projected 105, 334 valid signatures, which is far more than the 76, 047 needed to get on the ballot.

Reality set in at City Hall on Wednesday after voters slaughtered a property tax hike and approved an initiative that will stop the city from collecting revenue from its enterprises. Mayor Lionel Rivera, who said Tuesday night that issue 300 wouldn’t affect the Stormwater Enterprise, left open the possibility that it did.

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Douglas Bruce walked into Centennial Hall where ballots were being counted Tuesday night, faced the television cameras and tore up his Stormwater Enterprise bill, declaring an end to what he calls the “rain tax.” Issue 300, the anti-tax crusader’s ballot initiative, was passing 55 to 44 percent, with 100,597 of the mail-in votes counted by 9:30 p.m. The victory, according to Bruce, meant the enterprise that charges Colorado Springs residents for drainage projects based on the amount of impervious surface on their property must be eliminated immediately.

City Clerk Kathryn Young started an expedited verification Wednesday of thousands of signatures on petitions submitted by anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, avoiding the need for a costly special election. “I work for nine people, and I was directed to do this,” Young said, referring to the nine-member Colorado Springs City Council. “I follow direction.” The measure will be on the November ballot if Young determines Bruce collected 11,470 signatures of registered city voters.

The Colorado Springs City Council today will take a formal vote on whether to place two measures on the November ballot. One of the proposals, sponsored by Councilwoman Jan Martin, would raise the city’s property tax by 10 mills over five years, with five mills in the first year. The other measure, sponsored by Councilman Tom Gallagher, would overhaul the local Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, leaving only the portion requiring voter approval of taxes. The two proposed ballot measures seem destined for the November ballot.

Two proposed ballot initiatives for November – one to raise property taxes and the other to tweak the local Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights – will be the subject of discussion and possibly heated debate during today’s meeting of the Colorado Springs City Council. The first proposal is being sponsored by Councilwoman Jan Martin, who wants to ask voters to increase the property tax mill levy by 10 mills over five years.

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The City Council today will discuss a host of possible ballot questions for November, including a property tax increase and a proposal to revamp the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Today’s discussion also will include suggestions for future ballot measures from the council-appointed Sustainable Funding Committee, which has been meeting for more than a year and coming up with ideas to get city government on firm financial footing.

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If petition circulators are successful, Colorado voters will have the usual menu of controversial proposals to pore over on the November 2010 ballot. The four measures, ranging from recognizing same-sex marriage to barring the state from borrowing, have been OK’d for circulation by state officials.

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Two anti-abortion groups, Colorado Right to Life and Personhood USA, will submit a new “personhood” initiative to the Colorado Legislative Council on Thursday in hopes of getting a measure on the 2010 state ballot. Colorado voters soundly defeated a similar measure, Amendment 48, in the 2008 election. But initiative sponsors say things will be different in 2010 because they will be better-funded and better able to articulate their message and will introduce a measure that’s more accurately worded.