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Readers write
Dear Editor:
The city has passed a two-part resolution that citizens will vote to accept or reject in May. The resolution proposes to increase the lid on the maximum amount of taxes the city can collect by 23.57 percent and implement a sales tax of 1.5 percent. This will result in a TAX INCREASE, plain and simple.
In 2008, Aurora voters approved a city sales tax for four years for the purpose of recreation. The 2008 resolution did not specify that a pool would be built, but there were at least some Aurora residents who presumed that a new pool was the primary purpose. The pool was not built and in 2012 Mayor Seeman led the effort for another round of sales tax for the purpose of extending the sales tax to fund the building of the pool. Many of us looked at the city finances and said that a pool could be built without extending the sales tax. The citizens agreed, and soundly defeated the 2012 sales tax proposal, and the city built the new pool with the funds that were already available.
This new 2024 sales tax proposal mentions property tax relief amongst a list of items on which the sales tax revenue “might” be spent. The list reflects nearly every city budget line item as a possible beneficiary. There is no assurance of any property tax reduction nor that any particular amount will be spent on any particular item.
In addition to NO SPECIFIC COMMITMENT as to where the sales tax will be used, this proposal has NO LIMIT on the number of years it will be collected. The initial $1.3 million collected per year in additional taxes will gradually increase due to inflation. If passed, this sales tax will cost the citizens of Aurora literally tens of millions of dollars over time.
Aurora does not need to resort to raising new taxes or tax rates. As new houses are built and new businesses started, the city continues to collect additional property taxes and utility revenues. In the last 15 to 20 years, the city property taxes and utility revenues have gone up at a rate greater than the Consumer Price Index and the rate of population growth by the city. The city has encountered increased costs, but these costs can continue to be managed within the ever-growing city revenue streams of this very prosperous and continually growing community.
I urge you to vote “No” on this proposal to raise the tax lid and impose a sales tax.
Gary Warren,
Aurora
