As you may already be aware, Gov. John Hickenlooper decided to call the Colorado General Assembly into special session to fix a simple drafting error in legislation passed this year that has impacted organizations across the state.
Since that call, we have heard debate on sales tax policy, constitutional amendments and all manner of legislative detail. And while we respect the deeply held ideals behind these debates, we fear the real impacts of the current situation are lost on Coloradans who voted for and value the organizations we represent.
Special districts across Colorado are close to the voters who authorize them and help keep them funded. They provide key services like emergency and fire response or water treatment. These districts ensure citizens receive critical public transportation across the Denver metro area as well as thousands of arts, cultural and scientific offerings. Time and again, voters have demonstrated their support for continued funding of our organizations and often have said yes to increased funding. Together the Regional Transportation District and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District alone represent nearly eight decades of voter support. Surely, this kind of longstanding voter approval of our organizations and their ongoing funding as special districts deserves consideration by the legislature.
What is at issue here is a simple mistake made in drafting a large and complex piece of legislation, through no fault of those now being impacted. That fact has been widely acknowledged by everyone involved in the legislation, from its sponsors to the individuals who voted for it, regardless of party affiliation or personal ideology. As it stands, according to non-partisan legislative staff analysis, the legislative error will deprive the nine impacted special districts of nearly $7 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year. So our request is to simply fix the error and allow our organizations to return to the business of properly serving the communities we have served for decades with the resources they have consistently voted to provide us. To do otherwise would be thwarting the clearly expressed will of the voters.
If there are other debates that need to occur around related areas of public policy, we understand that. But we would ask that our organizations and others impacted — like the Montezuma Hospital District in Cortez that provides critical health care to an already underserved community — be allowed to receive the financial support voters intended and get back to the work we do.
In this time of heightened politics, surely we can find a way to continue to solve simple problems and correct what should rightly be a minor and easily resolved issue. We respect the will of the voters who have consistently supported us and we hope state lawmakers will find a way to do the same.
Deborah Jordy is the executive director of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Ann Terry is executive director of the Special District Association of Colorado. David Genova is general manager and chief executive officer of the Regional Transportation District.
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