You surprised me, Park County. It was almost perfect.
First, the imperfect
Fire District Consolidation
I supported the consolidation effort by three fire districts: Inter-Canyon, North Fork, and Elk Creek. The consolidation questions were on the ballot in all the districts. For the consolidation to succeed, all three district ballot measures had to pass. I live in the Elk Creek District, where it didn’t pass.
It didn’t pass because some old guys did everything to cause mischief on the CON side. They lied, gaslit, and they intentionally misrepresented facts. They unquestionably fed the ideologically regressive rural undercurrent of tax BAD, status quo GOOD mentality to spread their dismal message. That message celebrated their inherent dark stinginess rather than taking those baby steps into the light, into something good for the community.
I won’t name the old guys who undertook this ugly exercise. They know who they are. We know who they are.
I followed the fire districts’ consolidation conversations on social media, primarily on Nextdoor. After doing research, I concluded the prominent CON voices came from elderly folks, the effort significantly monetarily backed by, yes, old people. I called them over-the-hill baby boomers. I didn’t name them but just used the term to characterize them as who they are. The most prolific monetary contributors to the CON side are Vietnam vets–old guys, just like me.
The honchos at Nextdoor hid my comment because someone had complained that it was disrespectful. Imagine that. Now, who could have found it disrespectful?
I’m an over-the-hill baby boomer myself. I don’t take offense if someone calls me that. It’s what I am. I do qualify that, however, to argue that regardless of what the common perception of over-the-hill may mean, I am still a valuable member of society, productive in my own little way, and full of opinions anyone can take or leave.
One difference, though, between me and the CON side of the consolidation issue (a distinction that spans my ideological view of the world) is that nothing ever stays the same. Change is inevitable. New ideas, concepts, and ways of doing things are continually arising. Some may work, some may not. To remain ensconced in the status quo, to devalue new, youthful ideas, to ballyhoo your perception of the world through eyes attuned to the past rather than the future, or indeed, even the present, is myopic, counterproductive, and reflective of the worst tendencies of many old people.
“In my day, those young whippersnappers didn’t speak unless spoken to!!!”
One thing, though, that stands out. Those who supported the consolidation effort learned a lot during the campaign and were duly schooled on what needs to be done the next time they propose consolidation. I can only surmise they now understand the despicable depths to which the old guys will go to maintain the status quo and will be prepared for that.
The Perfect
Before I get into the perfect, it’s important to note that given the property tax imbroglio we all experienced, I didn’t think any ballot questions that dared to even slightly hint at taxes or mill levies would pass. But guess what! They did!!!
Short-Term Rental Sales Tax
Short-term rental properties in the county are primarily, if not exclusively, used to house vacationing visitors to the area. These folks use our roads and parks and rely on our emergency services when they get in trouble. Indeed, when they cause trouble, our sheriff’s department and other emergency services respond. (Ask Sheriff Tom McGraw what percentage of his calls are related to short-term rentals.) Heretofore, all that was provided gratis by the county. Though we, as taxpayers, pay for those services, non-resident vacationing visitors do not.
For a long time, the question has been: Why shouldn’t non-resident visitors chip in for all those services? In fact, why shouldn’t they contribute to the roads they use and abuse when they’re up here? And other infrastructure, like trailheads? And to the purchase of county equipment used in part to make their stay perfect and keep them safe and sound?
Why shouldn’t a 2% sales tax be added to the direct user’s bill for hanging out in a short-term rental for a couple of days, a week, or less than thirty days?
The answer to that question was, for me, a no-brainer. Of course, they should contribute to the pot that pays for the services and infrastructure they use while visiting here. It’s something that’s done across the country, from sea to shining sea.
But wait! District 3 Commissioner Dave Wissel believes that since a similar measure was voted down in the past, it should never, ever see the light of day again. Commissioner Elsner advocated for this measure in the past and introduced the measure that appeared on the November 7, 2023, ballot.
Here’s what Wissel said when the Commission voted 2 to 1 to put the question on the ballot: “Commission Elsner never saw a tax he didn’t like. Never saw a question he didn’t support. You can laugh; it’s okay. Yeah, go right ahead. The voters have spoken very loudly, folks. And the hypocrisy of pushing continuous questions when they’ve continuously said no, I find appalling. Frankly appalling. The disrespect for our taxpayers is unprecedented. I will not be supporting this, and I will tell you why. …This is going to be a complete redistribution of wealth. …This is the epitome of don’t tax you, don’t tax me, take that other fella behind the tree. …This is truly people practicing at the altar of the revenuers so they can get free money, money for nothing, and that’s all that this is.”
Wissel went on to conflate the emergency services provided to residents who pay for those services with vacationers who don’t. He chided special fire districts for not tightening their belts enough to accommodate free services to non-taxpaying visitors. He noted that visitors to the county pay taxes when they gas up, buy food, etc. It was left to Elsner to point out that emergency services special districts and the Park County Sheriff receive not a penny of the sales taxes visitors pay for gas or food or whatever.
A Wissel apologist named Gary, a ubiquitous Constitutional Conservative gadfly, who, by the way, never saw a tax he liked, said during public comment: “I oppose this tax… …Let’s go back and count the votes, and it’s only nine or ten months ago this STR failed by a 16% margin. That’s not even small. That’s about as big as it gets in Park County. …Putting the same question on the ballot again is just making fun of the voters. We’re rubes who just don’t know what we’re talking about. …You think you’re going to convince that 16% to come on board? I don’t think so.”
Ahem. Park County Ballot Issue 1A, the 2% sales tax on short-term renters, passed by 15.6%. Not quite 16%, but pretty close to it. Was that about as big as it gets in Park County? Gary thinks so.
As for Wissel’s comments? One can gaslight an issue for all it’s worth. Eventually, though, folks see through the bombast, chicanery, and the con. You can’t fool all the people all of the time. A video of part of the STR discussion of August 22, 2023, is below. It’s a little over fifteen minutes.
Platte Canyon School District Bond Renewal Question
I have no doubt the supporters of this question bit their nails and wrung their hands on election night, wondering if they did everything possible to convince folks to do the right thing. To support their cause with their vote? Were they diligent in dispelling all the nonsense, gaslighting, and downright lies that folks with motivations they didn’t understand spewed and sputtered across social media? What would they do if their cause failed?
The Platte Canyon School District’s bond renewal question was something I researched thoroughly, significantly depending on folks three or four decades younger than me for input. I don’t have children or grandchildren, but any effort I exerted on behalf of the issue was made on behalf of our community’s children. Community. What word better expresses or defines community than schools? If you’re indifferent to the schools where you live, you’re indifferent to the community. Are you unwilling to support your community’s school district with your tax dollars? If so, your interests go no farther than your penurious spirit. A spirit tied on both ends by the dreary ropes of your own miserly stinginess.
The folks who worked hard to place the Platte Canyon School District question on the ballot did their homework. They restructured their expectations after two failed bond questions. They presented a workable, scaled-back plan to assure the district’s viability for decades.
The primary naysayers, though, are, for me, an enigma. Misrepresenting facts, keying on superfluous arguments, their thrust indisputably egocentric, their message: Since I didn’t propose this, I won’t support it. Even though the CON side is arguably involved with the district and has children in district schools, it is nevertheless relentless in its degradation of others who have worked so hard to preserve and enhance the district for the community’s children. Their naysaying came from an ideological stance that celebrates form over substance and self-interest over community.
The Platte Canyon School District bond renewal question passed, not by much, but enough. One word: HOORAY!!!
Statewide Issues on the Ballot
Prop HH
Proposition HH was hopelessly convoluted and thereby opened itself up to an abundance of invalid (or valid?) interpretations, fear-mongering, and demagogic posturing. It was doomed the moment it was approved for the ballot.
Proposition II
Using the excess revenues from the “SIN TAX” on tobacco and nicotine products to fund an enhancement of the voluntary preschool program in Colorado is another no-brainer. Yes, the people said. Good for them!
What’s Next?
As Commission Chair Amy Mitchell (also Chair of the Park County RINOS) ramps up for a second term (the election will be in 2024) will she strut her ideological far-right agenda (shared with the South Park Outsiders and Wissel) to achieve that second term.
Just a note. Calling the recently reconstituted Park County Republican Party RINOS is the most accurate moniker available. I used to call them Repugnants, but that’s admittedly a debasement that doesn’t characterize all of them. At least I hope it doesn’t. The acronym RINO means Republican In Name Only. That they are. They are not the party of Lincoln, but the party of Christian Nationalists, so-called Constitutional Conservatives who, in their world, define patriots as a violent mob of yahoos who invaded the Capitol to stop the Constitutionally prescribed process of confirming who We, the People elected as president.
In fact, two other monikers we might consider are ROOTS or ROOTR: Republicans Out Of Touch with Society, or Republicans Out Of Touch with Reality. Take your choice. RINOS, ROOTS, or ROOTR. They all fit the newly reconstituted Park County GOP.
One of the most obvious cons, and a classic example of gaslighting is the extreme right’s use of the acronym RINO to describe traditional conservatives who don’t buy their craziness, their Trump-inspired demagoguery. It is the extreme right who have left the Republican Party, not the other way around.
The Park County RINOS also believe the Big Lie. And, in noting that, should we suspect Mitchell and Wissel will embark once again on the effort to con us into believing Dominion voting machines are infested with hobgoblins and mules intent on stealing or changing our votes?
I don’t know. Will they? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. And, if you’ve forgotten, here’s the first time they tried the con:
