Aurora – A city councilman wants to tear up the current form of government and change Aurora into a city and county.
Councilman Steve Hogan introduced an ordinance for a special council meeting on Saturday.
If approved, it would be sent to voters in the state’s third-largest city in November.
Aurora sits in Arapahoe and Adams counties, with a small portion in Douglas County. According to the U.S. census, the population in 2004 was 292,000.
Saturday’s announcement was a preliminary step. The matter must be considered in council subcommittees before it is taken up by the full City Council. If voters approve the question in November, the legislature would have to allow a statewide ballot question for the 2008 general election.
A similar ballot question was shot down by Aurora voters 10 years ago, and Hogan was the main supporter then, too.
Denver and Broomfield have city-county governments. After Broomfield voters gave the OK to form into a city-county government, state voters approved the incorporation two years later. Broomfield officially became a county in 2001, the first city-county government in Colorado since Denver in 1902.
Hogan believes Aurora can follow Broomfield’s example.
“Circumstances were different then,” he said. “One of the comments that was made 10 (years) ago was, ‘Oh, my God, this will create havoc in the city, and it’s a huge cost.’ Now we have the experience of Broomfield to go by, and that’s not the case.”
Hogan believes creating Aurora County would alleviate confusion by citizens, who must seek out county services in either Adams or Arapahoe. It would cut down on city costs to transport inmates to county jails in Dove Valley or Brighton. And it would create a fixed boundary because counties aren’t able to annex.
So far, Mayor Ed Tauer doesn’t support the idea.
“I usually think we should defer to the voters, and the voters said no before,” he said. “I don’t know what has changed since then? We have to see whether there are real benefits before I support this. There is a long road in front of this.”
The matter created controversy a decade ago, especially from Arapahoe County. And some opponents feared higher taxes to pay for county buildings, such as a jail. Hogan said the new county wouldn’t need higher taxes because it would simply inherit the money that was going to the other counties.
In a different matter, Hogan presented another ordinance for consideration that would ask voters whether they supported changing the council into a strong mayoral form of government by doing away with the city manager.
Denver has a strong mayor form of government, and Hogan said he simply wants to ask voters whether they would favor a change to the city charter.
“I am not being supportive of the strong-mayor concept,” he said. “I’m supportive of the council-manger form of government. My position is retain what we got.”
Hogan said he wants to ask the question because he hears from people all the time, wondering if the city is going to change its charter.
That would take a vote of the people, though.
Tauer, whose position would be affected by the charter change, said he hadn’t given it much thought.
“The people, not politicians, make these decisions,” he said. “I’m not as focused on structure as I am our community and its services. I haven’t formed an opinion on this.”
Ron Miller is the city manager of Aurora.
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer may be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
