Author: Pam Zubeck
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THE SPYGLASS: A tax by any other name still costs you
It walks like a tax and quacks like a tax, but it’s called a public improvement fee – a new way developers get into the pockets of citizens to pay for roads, utilities and other big-ticket construction. The public improvement fee, or PIF, is collected on retail sales under an agreement between the landlord and…
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Election aftermath: Booted for bad behavior?
Douglas Bruce and John Newsome espouse conservative GOP ideologies, but that wasn’t enough to keep them in office.Voters in Tuesday’s primary election handed both incumbents bad conduct discharges based on behavior that went too far, political observers say.Bruce was ousted from state House District 15 and Newsome as 4th Judicial District attorney.”The personal behavior problems…
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Congressional candidates says they’re eager to debate
RACE TO DEBATE Campaigns in the 5th Congressional District started gearing up for the general election on Wednesday, a day after Tuesday’s primary election, by calling for a debate.Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who refused to debate his two primary opponents, challenged Democrat retired Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack to a debate in a news release issued…
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Lamborn cruises to victory over Crank, Rayburn
Rep. Doug Lamborn cruised to an easy victory in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary Tuesday night, a beneficiary of facing two challengers who split the majority of the vote. As the victor in the primary, the first -term congressman will face Democrat Hal Bidlack, a retired Air Force officer, in November in the heavily…
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Springs puts two Bruce measures on the ballot
Colorado Springs residents will vote in November on two measures that would overhaul how the city’s 11 enterprises do business, including Colorado Springs Utilities and the Stormwater Enterprise.After community leaders bashed the proposals and their author, tax-cutting activist Rep. Douglas Bruce, the City Council on Monday voted to place the measures on the Nov. 4…
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Cemeteries consider “green burials”
How would you like to spend eternity?In a silk-lined casket under dew-laden bluegrass and granite stones, borders and benches? That’ll be up to $200,000, please, depending on the size of your family.Or in an egg-crate box or “ecopod,” biodegrading beneath native grasses and wildflowers?A “green burial” would cost significantly less and provide a back-to-earth experience…
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POLITIGAB: Hefley criticizes Lamborn over campaign tactics
Joel Hefley made an 11th hour plea for his successor Rep. Doug Lamborn to stop his “say anything, do anything” re-election campaign tactics aimed at Hefley’s choice for the office, Jeff Crank.I would like for us to create an atmsophere where we’re not going to put up with that kind of campaigning,” he said. “I…
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Agency negotiates ambulance contract
American Medical Response is the preferred provider for ambulance service in El Paso County.The Emergency Services Agency, which oversees the contract with Greenwood Village-based AMR, was told Wednesday negotiations would commence for a 10-year contract with AMR.The designation of a preferred provider follows a months-long, $40,000 selection process that involved an out-of-state consultant. The consultant…
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THE SPYGLASS: ‘Plastax’ could add to depleted city coffers
Springs resident Katie Healy has an idea about how to fund local government.She’s not an elected official or a member of an appointed board. But she reads a lot, and her inquisitive mind wonders if plastic shopping bags could render more gold unto Caesar.She notes that Ireland imposed a 15-cent tax per bag in 2002,…
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Utilities water rate hike delayed until 2009
Water bills in Colorado Springs won’t go up this year after all.Colorado Springs Utilities will withdraw a proposed rate hike, which was to have been considered Tuesday by the City Council.The rate hike would have raised the typical residential monthly bill by $4.59, the largest percentage increase since at least 2000.But the proposal ran aground…