HomeMy WebLinkAboutresolution.council.059-96
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RESOLUTION NO. 5"i
(Series of 1996)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN,
COLORADO, EXPRESSING ITS OPPOSITION TO THE STATEWIDE
INITIATIVE (AMENDMENT 11) THAT WOULD SUBJECT MOST
PROPERTY OWNED BY NONPROFIT AND RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATIONS TO AD VALOREM PROPERTY TAXATION AND
TO STATEWIDE INITIATIVE (AMENDMENT 13) WHICH WOULD
LIBERALIZE THE PETITION PROCESS.
WHEREAS, the Colorado voters will be asked to vote on legislation
(Amendment 11) that would subject most property owned by nonprofit and
religious organizations to ad valorem property taxation; and
WHEREAS, municipalities and nonprofit organizations are natural
allies in working toward the adequate delivery of social, medical, cultural
and recreational services; and
WHEREAS, most Colorado citizens have benefited from the services
provided by one of our 10,000 nonprofit and religious organizations; and
WHEREAS, this massive tax burden will force many of our churches
and charities to close, or to drastically cut services effecting every
Colorado community; and
WHEREAS, demand for nonprofit services will not disappear, rather
the demand will be redirected to local governments creating even greater
stress on municipal budgets; and
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WHEREAS, the Aspen community has always been supportive of out
nonprofit sector which provides essential community services and is the
life-blood of Aspen's spirit; and
WHEREAS, the Aspen City Council is deeply concerned about the
process used to place poorly worded and mis-understood ballot questions on
the ballot via the initiative process; and
WHEREAS, another ballot question, Amendment 13, seeks to
weaken and liberalize the ways in which petitions can get on the ballot even
further; and
WHEREAS, if Amendment 13 were to pass many administrative and
quasi-judicial decisions would be subject to a vote thereby creating chaos
and grinding government to a halt; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 13 radically reduces the number of
signatures required for local government initiative and referendum elections
and weakens the anti-fraud procedures that now invalidate signatures
resulting in a much smaller number of individuals needed to suspend local
government action.
WHEREAS, Amendment 13, by delaying ordinances from taking
effect until nearly 3 months after post-enactment publication, and by
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severely limiting citizens' ability to require special elections, would
significantly impair local governments' ability to respond promptly to the
desires of their citizens; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 13 will increase taxpayer costs to cover the
preparation, distribution and validation of numerous petitions and the
administration of elections resulting therefrom; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 13 would promote "tyranny of the
minority" by allowing small bans of petitioners to stall government actions
that are supported by a majority of citizens; and
WHEREAS, Amendment 13 is so ambiguous and badly written that
thousands oftaxpayer dollars in attorney fees and court time will be
required to determine what it actually means; and
WHEREAS, the initiative and referendum process is already alive
and well in Colorado as demonstrated by the number of propositions that
regularly appear on state and municipal ballots.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, THAT: the City Council of the City
of Aspen opposes Amendment 11 and urges voters to vote no on November
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5, 1996, on Amendment 11 which subjects property owned by many
nonprofit and religious organizations to ad valoerm property taxation and
Amendment 13 which reduces the signature requirements for the petition
process.
Dated: d2~ /~, 1996
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JoM S. Bennett, Mayor
I, Kathryn S. Koch, duly appointed and acting City Clerk do certify that the
foregoing is a true and accurate copy of that resolution adopted by the City
Council of the City of Aspen, Colorado, at a meeting held
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Kathryn S. och, City Clerk