The current police building and main fire station are heaps. The city wants an all-or-nothing $98 million city sales tax increase and TABOR manipulation for a two-block-long, three-story public safety facility, new main firehouse and three remote fire stations.

Of course, there will likely be millions in cost overruns. If it is so badly needed, why was it not built before the Riverside Parkway ($13 million over budget and a big debt owed)?

With several tax-and-spend initiatives on the 2008 ballot, more likely for 2009 and a tough economy, now comes this project.

The city has $60 million 2009 discretionary excess funds and could apply some to this project. But city officials want new money via increased sales taxes and tampering with TABOR revenue limits.

Petroleum companies may tire of area environmentalists, cap the wells and depart (they don’t need us), which would be a financial disaster.

So, fix the overdone Taj Mahal and landscape design, get more citizen input and actually use it if it is worthwhile. The city should use some of the 2009 excess, time limit the sales tax on the ballot. Disclose today how much the architect has cost so far and their total fees and how they were picked.

It’s about what’s needed and it’s about what we will really get for our money and how much we will actually pay and for how long. No more word games.

JIM SHULTS
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 2:26 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.