Lodging taxes, education funding on local ballots

Editor’s note: After last year’s national elections, this November’s local balloting can’t help but seem sedate. While some council races have become more competitive by mayoral retirements, it will be tax issues front and center in cities and towns in Larimer and Weld counties.

Lodging taxes

For the third time in a decade, voters in Loveland will get a chance to add a lodging tax to the books.

Loveland is now surrounded by Northern Colorado municipalities – Greeley, Fort Collins, Longmont and Estes Park – collecting lodging taxes from overnight visitors. Ballot issue 2B asks voters to place a 3 percent “bed tax” on hotel and guest accommodations within the city limits.

Voters in the town of Timnath will also consider a 3 percent lodging tax, even though there are currently no hotels in town.

Loveland’s tax would be used entirely to market the community in hopes of drawing in even more visitors. Revenue generated by the tax, estimated at $400,000 annually, will be spent by a Community Marketing Commission, a seven-member panel of residents, employees and employers in Loveland, appointed by city council.

“(The tax) definitely makes us competitive with others in the area,´ said Loveland Chamber of Commerce President Brian Wilms, who is also a member of Building a Better Loveland, a group campaigning for 2B. “Other Colorado cities and towns are getting out and being aggressive about recruiting visitors and conventions.”

Building a Better Loveland feels that past efforts to put a lodging tax in place have failed in part because there was little effort made to get information out to voters and in part because tax proceeds were not restricted to marketing to potential visitors.

The local lodging industry is apparently behind the effort this time. The new Embassy Suites and Convention Center released a statement of support for 2B explaining that such taxes are in place in about 98 percent of the communities in which the nationwide company operates.

Aims taxing district expansion

While Loveland and Timnath voters ponder a lodging tax, Berthoud voters will decide whether to add to their property taxes in exchange for lower cost education.

On Berthoud’s ballot this year is a question that would bring the town into the Aims Community College taxing district, the first to do so under House Bill 1079. Residents in the taxing district pay 6.299 mills in exchange for the opportunity to attend Aims at a discounted rate. The in-district rate is $60 per credit versus $89 for out-of-district residents.

If the measure passes, Berthoud residents would pay about $50.14 more annually for every $100,000 of assessed property value, raising a total of almost $370,000 for the college. For the 2009-10 budget year, Aims will collect almost $23.1 million in property taxes from its district, about 55 percent of the college’s general fund.

The issue has arisen because Aims is planning a campus near the intersection of Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 56 in Berthoud, with programs focusing on alternative energy and environmental sustainability. According to Aims spokeswoman Amy Kegg, the funds collected from Berthoud residents would be tapped for the Berthoud campus.

Current Aims taxing district residents must also approve the proposal although their taxes will not increase. The Aims district remains little changed since it was established in 1967, and is defined through school district boundaries:

• LaSalle, Gilcrest, Platteville (RE-1);
• Eaton (RE-2);
• Keenesburg, Hudson, Prospect Valley (RE-3J);
• Windsor (RE-4);
• Johnstown, Milliken (RE-5J);
• Greeley, Evans (RE-6);
• Gill, Kersey (RE-7);
• Fort Lupton (RE-8);
• Ault-Highland (RE-9);
• Briggsdale (RE-10J);
• New Raymer (RE-11J);
• Grover (RE-12).

State Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-District 15, says that he does not support the ballot question, because it won’t be of much benefit to the citizens of Berthoud.

Loveland city council, mayor

Loveland Mayor Gene Pielin announced in July he would not seek a second two-year term as mayor, and five candidates, including four incumbent council members, have stepped up to seek the post.

They include Dave Clark, who has been serving as mayor pro tem; Cecil Gutierrez, Walt Skowron and Glenn Rousey. Alexi Grewal, a 1984 Olympics gold medalist in bicycling, is also in the race.

Gutierrez, elected in 2007, would still retain his Ward 1 seat for two more years if he isn’t elected mayor. If he does win the post, a special election would have to be set to fill his council seat, according to Teresa Andrews, Loveland city clerk.

Andrews said she could not say why so many are running for Loveland mayor this year. She said normally no more than “two or three” candidates seek the position.

Loveland has four wards with two councilors representing each ward. Four-year terms are staggered so only one councilor from each ward is running for reelection at a time.

In Ward 1, incumbent Daryle Klassen is facing a challenge from former councilor Jan Brown and Adam Alexander Koniecki.

In Ward 2, two candidates – Bob Snyder and Joan Shaffer – are seeking to fill the seat of Glenn Rousey, who is completing his eight-year term limit.

In Ward 3, three candidates are vying to fill the seat of Walt Skowron, who is also term limited. The candidates are Janet Bailey, Joseph Hertwig and Hugh McKean.

And in Ward 4, Cathleen McEwen and Teri Volk are contending for term-limited Dave Clark’s seat.

Greeley mayor, city council

Some political horse races are also under way in Greeley. Controversial Mayor Ed Clark, who defeated Tom Selders in 2007, decided not to seek another two-year term after toying with a possible write-in candidacy last month.

Incumbent councilman Ed Phillipsen, who has been serving as mayor pro tem, is facing a challenge from Tom Norton.

Thomas “TJ” Marlo, Tim Annable and Sandra Elder are running for the at-large council seat held by incumbent Carrol Martin, who is term-limited from seeking another four years.

In Ward 2, Randy Sleight and Donna Sapienza are vying for the seat now held by Ed Phillipsen, also term-limited

In Ward 3, it’s a three-way race between Scot Stockwell, James Allen and John Gates for the seat of incumbent Don Feldhaus, who is also facing his term limit.

And in Ward 4, incumbent Mike Finn is facing a challenge from William Sterling.

Fort Collins holds its municipal elections in April.

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