Voter turnout high; three terms, C and BOB approved

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

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Voter turnout was unusually heavy for the Nov. 1 election, with some high-stakes issues on the line.

Locally, voters agreed to extend term limits for county officials from two to three terms, clearing the way for Sheriff Jim Alderden to run for another term. Fort Collins residents overwhelmingly approved the Building on Basics tax extension.

Statewide, voters passed Referendum C, bailing the state out of its financial woes with a change to the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. However, they rejected Referendum D which would have allowed the state to borrow money for highways and other capital improvements. Larimer County voters approved both measures.

Two new people, Larry Neal and Jim Hayes, were elected to the Poudre School District Board of Education. Neal, who ran in a three-way race, narrowly defeated fellow contender Bruce Smith, while Hayes ran unopposed. Veteran Jana Ley was returned to the board, and Nancy Tellez, who has served as an interim board member since last spring, was voted officially onto the board.

Voter turnout was 56 percent of active registered voters, according to Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle. He attributed the high turnout to interest in Referenda C and D. Of the 79,529 votes cast, vote centers accounted for 31,476 with the balance coming from absentee ballots, early voting and provisional ballots.

Here's a more detailed look at the election results.

Term limits extension

The term limits measure increased the maximum number of terms for Larimer County elected officials from two to three. The extension narrowly won approval by voters, passing by just 355 votes.

County officials affected by the term limit extension in the near future include Sheriff Jim Alderden and Commissioner Kathay Rennels, who could both run in 2006; and Commissioner Glenn Gibson, who could run again in 2008. Alderden, who pushed hard for the extension, said he plans to run for re-election, while Rennels is still undecided.

Alderden, 54, said he is too young to retire and wants to continue his law enforcement career in Larimer County. Furthermore, he said, there's unfinished business to attend to. He pointed to three main issues he would like to address in a third term: understaffing at the sheriff's office, crowding at the detention center and outdated radio communications equipment that needs to be replaced.

Building on Basics

Fort Collins voters were enthusiastic about BOB, with 72 percent casting ballots in favor of the measure. Passage amounts to a tax extension for city residents, keeping in place a quarter-cent sales-and-use tax for another 10 years. The tax is a continuation of the Building Community Choices package approved by voters in 1997.

Funds generated by the tax, estimated at $56 million, will help pay for 13 capital projects, with more than half of the money going to transportation improvements. The city plans to improve several intersections, including Harmony Road and College Avenue. Other projects on tap are the widening of Timberline Road to four lanes from Drake to Prospect Road, widening Harmony Road to four lanes between Seneca Street and College Avenue, and improving North College Avenue. Pedestrian, bicycling and bus improvements are also planned.

The Building on Basics package includes renovation of the Lincoln Center, expansion of the Fort Collins Senior Center, improvements at city parks and libraries, a new facility to house both the Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center and a new computer management system for the police department.

C & D

Referendum C gives the state a "time-out" from TABOR spending restrictions for the next five years. The measure will allow the state to keep an estimated $3.7 billion that would otherwise have been rebated to taxpayers under TABOR.

State Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, noted that a whopping 57 percent of Larimer County voters supported Referendum C. "Our county provided one-fourth of the margin [of victory] at the state level," he said. Referendum C passed by 11,000 votes in Larimer County, while the statewide margin was just 40,000 votes.

"People here understood the significance for higher education," Johnson commented.

In the past few years, colleges and universities in the state have been particularly hard-hit by budget limits imposed by TABOR, since higher education is one of the few areas where state support is not mandated by law.

State Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, said that because C passed, there's a possibility of restoring some of the cuts made previously to higher education. Also, the College Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which provides vouchers to students attending state schools, may get a boost, resulting in higher voucher amounts. More scholarships should be available, too.

"We will begin to reverse the process," Bacon said. "We will be able to hire more full-time professors and to retain the professors who are doing basic research and bringing in money to the state."

However, Bacon said, the state budget will still be tight. "The state will have to be very careful not to initiate anything new," he said.

The Larimer County Health Department was particularly on edge about Referendum C, since the state could have further cut its programs if the measure had failed. The state is now less likely to take tobacco settlement money in one lump sum, according to Health Department director Adrienne LeBailly, and that's good news for her department. The annual settlement payments, she said, fund many health programs including the Nurse-Family Partnership, which provides support for high-risk mothers.

Other health programs such as tobacco-use prevention, child immunizations, family planning, air quality control and tuberculosis control would likely have been severely cut or eliminated if C had failed.

Even with the passage of C, LeBailly said health programs are "not 100 percent out of the woods," because legislators could take some general fund money for Referendum D projects. Johnson agreed that is possible.

Referendum D would have allowed the state to borrow up to $2.1 billion for capital projects, mostly for road and bridge projects in Colorado. "Road projects will take a lot longer to get done," said Johnson. "We may have to have another road bonding project in a few years."