Dear Editors: With “budget season” again under way in Mesa County, it’s also timely for our County Commissioners to reconsider their unwavering allegiance to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (“TABOR”). As proposed by anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce and passed in 1992 as a constitutional amendment, TABOR was intended to reign-in and prospectively prevent “tax and spend” legislatures from busting Colorado’s budget and raising taxes without a popular vote. However, because Mesa County routinely elects staunch fiscal conservatives rather than spendthrifts – and because there is no evidence that local conservatives’ political clout will be seriously diminished in the foreseeable future – our three elected Commissioners presumably never require the added dose of “fiscal responsibility” imposed by TABOR. There is little evidence that TABOR contributes positively to either economic growth or employment. Moreover, because Mesa County’s ingrained sense of fiscal responsibility derives from locals’ unfortunate familiarity with “boom and bust” economic cycles, TABOR may actually hurt Mesa County more than its author intended. TABOR limits both the amount of excess revenues that can be reserved during “good times” (in anticipation of the next inevitable downturn) and the amount of renewed revenues realized during recoveries that can be spent to make-up for cuts imposed during recessions. Reportedly, this so-called “ratcheting-down effect” sometimes necessitates “creative accounting” to ameliorate TABOR’s effects on Mesa County’s budgets. However, rather than continue engaging in accounting gymnastics to evade TABOR, the Commissioners should consider straightforwardly “de-Brucing” Mesa County. Because such a proposal would require the Mesa County Commissioners to a approve a referred ballot measure in 2015, the next Board should promptly begin thinking about it, plan for contentious public hearings, carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of “de-Brucing” county government (as other jurisdictions already have), and set aside their ideological predispositions long enough to evaluate that sensible option on its merits. Bill Hugenberg
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 02:17:41 +0000
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