More regarding ballot issue 2E

A constituent emailed me about why Council would put a tax on "recycling" on the ballot. I wanted to share my opinion on this. This is my opinion and other councilmembers may have their own reasons for supporting or opposing this measure.
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Like every city government right now, Sheridan is struggling to continue to provide quality services although our tax revenues are down severely (33% this year). We are facing some very difficult decisions about how to continue to provide high quality services in 2010. Back in June, the City held a "town hall meeting" to allow citizens to voice their opinions on the possibility that we might need to outsource our dispatch and fire services to balance the budget. The overwhelming direction we got from the citizens at that meeting was that it was unacceptable to outsource our fire services.

We have to fill our budget gap somehow to respond to the desire of the citizens. We have cut the budget to the bone already - down about 20% from $8M to $6M. The other way to balance the budget is to increase revenues. Ballot issues 2D and 2E are two possibilities we are giving the citizens of Sheridan to keep our fire services in-house by increasing our revenues. Currently, junk and salvage activities (primarily Western Metals) pay very little in the way of tax. WM in particular only pays a $8,000 "in lieu of tax" amount to the City every year. You may find it interesting that the opponents of 2E have already spent around $16,000 to prevent it from passing. They also sued the City to change the ballot language from "junk and salvaged materials" to "recycled materials" and lost. "Junk and salvaged materials" does include some materials that are recyclable and others that are not, and it does not include everything that a person can recycle. Also consider how the amount of the tax limits its impact: at $1.75 per TON, this does not greatly impact our citizens who may do some small amounts of recycling at the facilities, but it does impact the out-of-town trucks full of smashed cars and other materials.

One other point on the claims of the opponents - WM currently only employs one Sheridan resident, so while technically WM offers "Sheridan jobs" (jobs physically in our city), they are not doing much for the citizens.

I feel like each person has to decide whether they believe this proposed tax is fair and whether its purpose (keeping our safety services intact) makes it worth voting for. I personally have grappled with it and decided to vote yes.

Thanks for asking, and I hope this explanation is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions or comments.

The Denver Post Voter Guide

The Denver Post voter guide is now online at http://voterguide.denverpost.com/. My profile is posted at http://voterguide.denverpost.com/candidate-detail.do?id=189949464.

Signs opposing ballot issue 2E (salvage tax)

Signs posted this week in Sheridan urge our residents to "protect Sheridan jobs" by voting no on ballot issue 2E. I'd like to point out that the business likely to have funded those signs only employs one Sheridan resident.

On the other hand, if Sheridan residents think it is important for our city to be able to keep our safety services in-house, a vote for 2E is a major step in that direction.

Sheriff to provide dispatch for Sheridan Police

This article highlights one of the changes to dispatch services in Sheridan that City Council approved last Wednesday the 23rd. The Communications Center of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office will dispatch for our police services, and the Denver Combined Communications Center will dispatch for our fire services.

Just one correction to the information in the article below: Sheridan residents should continue to call (303)762-2211 for non-emergencies.

As this article notes, the changes will be invisible to Sheridan residents and will enable significant cost savings for our City. Please let me know if you have any questions on these changes.

http://denver.yourhub.com/Sheridan/Stories/News/General-News/Story~659708.aspx

Volunteer to help the campaign

I will be placing yard signs in Ward III soon. If you are interested in helping with my campaign by posting a sign in your yard, please send me an email at tbfluhr@gmail.com or call 303-587-2045.

Campaign contributions are also welcome. Make checks payable to Tara M. Beiter-Fluhr Campaign Fund and mail to c/o 4234 S. Decatur St., Sheridan, CO 80110. I cannot accept anonymous donations, and if you contribute over $100, campaign finance laws require me to know your occupation and employer.

Check your voter registration

The election is November 3rd and the last day to register is October 5th. It is an all-mail election.

This tool from the Colorado Secretary of State will let you check if you are registered to vote and whether your voter information is accurate:
https://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/secuVoterHome.do;jsessionid=0000acGnLN3NdLaEFDkywQSXfeZ:121vl9gps
Additional information about Arapahoe County elections is available at http://arapahoe-co.connect.clarityelections.com/default.aspx?s=1

Dear Citizens of Sheridan,

In these challenging times for our City, we need representation on City Council that will bring stability, creativity, and educated financial guidance. I hope that when you consider my credentials, you will elect me to continue to represent Ward III of Sheridan.

Education: BA German Studies/International Studies, Ohio Wesleyan University
MA International Politics with Security Focus, University of Denver
MA Accounting and MBA, University of Colorado Denver

Experience: Two years as your appointed City Councilwoman. Service on the Sheridan Redevelopment Agency board and the Sheridan Housing Authority board.

Occupation: Staff tax analyst at Qwest Corporation, 10 years

In the two years I have represented our ward, I've seen remarkable improvements at City Hall. We now have consistent and credible financial reporting, allowing Council to monitor the city's finances and plan for the future based on accurate data. Without this improvement, the current financial crisis would have been unmanageable by Council and city staff. Though no one likes where the City stands today financially, at least we are fully aware of where we stand.

We are also proud of the excellent core of new businesses open in Sheridan. While the redevelopment process has been painful at times, we are able to enjoy a higher quality of life with these new services on our doorstep and look forward to even more progress in this area.

You may not be aware of how hard the City has been working to meet today's financial challenges. Your City government has cut almost $1.4 million from a $6.7 million budgetfor 2009 – representing a 21% reduction in expenditures – and plans to keep those cuts in place for 2010. The remaining deficit between our lagging tax revenues and the budget cuts must still be addressed, and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the quality of services you receive from the City of Sheridan does not diminish as a result.

Fellow council members and city staff have told me they appreciate my smarts, creative thinking, financial background, and logical approach to the difficult issues we face. I hope these same qualities will encourage you to entrust your representation to me in November.

Warmest regards,
Tara Beiter-Fluhr

You can follow my campaign online, or check in on city events and municipal issues, at ward3tara.blogspot.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tara-Beiter-Fluhr-for-City-Council-Sheridan-Ward-III/126904944573

Sheridan Celebrates

You are invited to join in a day of fun featuring the celebration of the City of Sheridan's 119th Anniversary on Saturday, September 26, 2009.

Schedule of Events

7:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m

Pancake Breakfast - Fire Station at Hazel Court and West Oxford Avenue

10:00 a.m.

Parade - Theme: Sheridan on the Move, Staging at Sheridan High School - to be completed by 9:30 a.m. - 3201 West Oxford Avenue

11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Community Fair -

Battle of the Bands
Children's Fair
Craft Booths
Food and Fun

To be held at Barnes Park, 1900 W. Girard Avenue and South Shoshone Street.

7News: Cash For Clunkers Trade-Ins To Be Crushed, Shredded, Recycled

Article discusses how "clunkers" will be recycled; interview with Sheridan's Alice Corns of Colorado Auto & Parts Recycling

Article

9NEWS.com | Colorado taxpayers send city leaders to Vail resort

9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | Colorado taxpayers send city leaders to Vail resort

Shared via AddThis

This unbalanced article and report about the Colorado Municipal League conference made me embarrassed that Sheridan was held up as an example. If we were not in such a budget crunch, several of us would have gladly attended. In Sheridan's budget, several thousand dollars is a big savings. To malign Denver and other large metro-area cities for sending folks to this conference is unfair - several thousand dollars to them is small change. This conference is a valuable learning opportunity, and what the city council members and city staff who attend from those cities bring back is well worth the expenditure. I think Sheridan suffers in this case because your councillors are less informed, meaning you get somewhat less capable representation. At least that is how I feel, since I've only ever attended a single two-day training session on how to be a municipal leader - it's not like it's a skill a person is born with! The interaction with other city leaders is an amazing source of inspirational ideas to bring home.

In addition, most city councillors or trustees earn very little for their service, so paying for such training out of their own pocket is not possible,and not to forget that a person with a day job has to take time off to attend this.

"Play in the Park" Event

A “Play in the Park” event is scheduled for Saturday, June 20th from 3:00-9:00 p.m at Sheridan Community Park. The schedule is as follows:

3:00 - History Fun Walk – Cliff Mueller
3:00-5:00 – Games and other free-form activities
5:00-6:30 – Bar-be-que (Hot dogs, chips) Firefighter volunteers will grill and high school students will help serve
7:00- Movie (Sand Lot) in the High School auditorium

Proposed Sheridan cost-saving measures

The City of Sheridan, like many communities today, has seen our revenues decrease markedly this year due to the recession. The city manager and employees have done an amazing job of managing this so far, already reducing expenditures by almost 23% through April 30th. Unfortunately, revenues are down over 33% for the same period, and we do not expect to see any recovery in the near term.

On Tuesday, the city manager proposed five cost-cutting measures to help fill our budget gap for the rest of the 2009. Briefly, the options are:
1) Discontinue ambulance service and switch to 3-person fire shifts
2) Outsource dispatch services
3) General government and supervisory furloughs up to 48 hours
4) All employee furloughs up to 48 hours
5) Outsource fire services
6) Discontinue city contributions to health and dental insurance for employees

City council is considering this list of options now.

I believe it is in the City's best interest to explore and better understand all of the costs and benefits associated with each cost-saving suggestion. I'm looking forward to hearing more details from the city manager on each option.

If you are a resident of Sheridan Ward 3 who would like to discuss these suggestions with me or provide some input, please feel free to contact me at tbeiter-fluhr@ci.sheridan.co.us or Jose Tafoya at jtafoya@ci.sheridan.co.us. For other wards, see http://www.ci.sheridan.co.us/City%20Council/ccouncil.htm. I would also like to hear feedback from city employees.

Fit 4 Colorado - Community Walk in Sheridan - Feb. 28th at 9:00 AM, City Hall

Please note LOCATION CHANGE to 3602 RiverPoint Parkway:

Locations for meetings

City council meetings are held at the Sheridan Municipal Center (see map below).

City council work sessions are held in council chambers. Take the first right after entering the building from the circular drive and then turn right down the next hallway.

Regular city council meetings are held in the large room to the right side of the stairway when you enter the building from the circular drive.

Parking is available on the southwest side of the city hall building.


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