Elbert County News 0911

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September 11, 2014 VOLU M E 1 1 9 | I S S UE 32 | 7 5 ¢

ElbertCountyNews.net E L B E R T C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O

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Questions approved for ballot Tax measures aim to retain teachers, improve facilities Staff report

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Lineup set for fall election Statewide initiatives may settle several issues By Rick Gustafson

Special to Colorado Community Media

POSTAL ADDRESS

ELBERT COUNTY NEWS (USPS 171-100)

OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 10 a.m.

With the Aug. 26 deadline for special district filings past, initiatives and candidates are set for the upcoming November election. In addition to the races for the U.S. Senate and Congress that are garnering a lot of attention, there are plenty of issues in this fall’s election to fuel debates in Elbert County well past Nov. 4. “Things are moving ahead,” Dallas Schroeder, Elbert County clerk and recorder, reported to the Board of County Commissioners Aug. 27. “We’re looking forward to a good election.” There are four statewide initiatives. Coloradans will settle on whether or not producers must identify “genetically modified” food or food “produced with genetic engineering” on packaging. Voters also will decide whether the state must define an “unborn human being” as a “person or a child” under the Colorado Criminal Code and the Wrongful Death Act. Voters must also determine if “local public bodies” must open “negotiations relating to collective bargaining” and “employment contracts” to the public, and choose whether they want to establish a “K-12 Education Fund” underwritten by “horse track limited gaming.” If the state issues are not enough to tickle ideologies, there are plenty of issues around the county to debate as well. District II voters need to replace outgoing County Commissioner Kurt Schlegel, and Kiowa residents must choose between three candidates for mayor.

P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY

In local issues affecting wallets and purses, the Peyton School District is proposing a TABOR Notice issue, and the Elizabeth School District has filed to offer either a bond issue, a mill levy increase, or perhaps both. Specific measures have yet to be determined. Elbert County voters will have multiple choices for casting their votes. Election Day polling will take place at the Elbert County Courthouse, the Spring Valley Golf Club, and the Elizabeth Public Library beginning at 7 am. Polls close at all locaElection continues on Page 4

Rivals for governor trade jabs in debate Hickenlooper, Beauprez meet on Western Slope By Vic Vela

vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com G ET SOCIAL WITH US

Dallas Schroeder, Elbert County clerk and recorder, told the board of commissioners on Aug. 27 that his department is “looking forward to a good election.” Photo by Rick Gustafson

Citing a long list of needs, the Elizabeth Schools Board of Education has voted to place two tax measures on the November ballot. The first question is a request for a $1 million mill levy override. The other seeks to allow the school district to borrow $2.5 million for infrastructure and transportation needs. The resolution to place the measures on the ballot was approved at a special board meeting on Sept. 4. District schools have been hit hard by a state-funding shortfall over the past four years that is expected to reach a cumulative amount of nearly $13 million by the end of the school year, a news release states. In addition to spending down reserves, officials say the district has already made cuts to central administration, delayed investments in technology and transportation, and deferred facility and infrastructure maintenance. Another major problem the district has encountered, board members say, is excessive teacher turnover. It reached 30.6 percent in 2013, about double the state average. “The school district continues to lose highly trained teachers to neighboring districts, where they earn over 25 percent more pay for doing the same job,” the news release said. “Based on a study of turnover costs in rural school districts by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, the cost of turnover for the school district exceeds $1 million for the last five years.” In addition, officials say the district has seen class sizes grow and test scores decline or remain flat. If approved, the mill levy override, which would sunset in five years, would raise property tax by $4.32 per month per $100,000 of a home’s actual market value, the district said. The money would be used for the following: • To ensure the district can attract and retain quality teachers. • To address high-priority classroom and instructional technology needs. • To enhance student and staff safety. Funds from the other ballot question would be used for: • Acquisition of emergency alarm and communication systems to enhance safety and emergency response. • Repair of leaking roofs at Singing Hills Elementary School and Elizabeth High School. • Acquisition of new school buses to replace an aging and obsolete fleet. The Elizabeth School District has six schools and approximately 2,625 students, with 305 employees.

Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Congressman Bob Beauprez swapped barbs during a lively debate in Grand Junction on Aug. 6, marking the first time the two gubernatorial rivals squared off this fall. On almost every debate topic — ranging from hydraulic fracturing to the death penalty and the state of the economy — the two traded jabs over who would be the better man to lead the state over the next four years. The debate’s energy was aided by a lively

audience that often interrupted the candidates with cheers and boos. That was especially the case toward the end of the debate, when Hickenlooper and Beauprez were given the opportunity to ask each other a series of direct questions. Beauprez used his first question to attack the governor over his evolving position on the death penalty, focusing on the Beauprez governor’s decision last year to grant a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, the death row inmate who killed four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant in 1993. “Yes or no, will you assure the people here tonight … that you will not grant clemency to Nathan Dunlap?” Beauprez asked.

Hickenlooper — who once supported the death penalty, but who recently said he no longer does — said he has “no plans to revisit my decision and my decision stands.” “Government shouldn’t be in the business of taking people’s lives,” Hickenlooper said. Meanwhile, Hickenlooper turned the tables on Beauprez on another issue that the forHickenlooper mer congressman has used to criticize the governor — fracking. Hickenlooper touted his work on reaching a compromise on local control issues surrounding oil and gas drilling. The compromise kept Debate continues on Page 4


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