Thank you, Colorado Springs voters, for passing issue #300. You ignored the phony personal attacks on me that were funded by sleazy developers. You rejected the scare tactics and information manipulation and suppression by the city council and its political appointees. You saw through the illegal and unethical acts of the city attorney and the council. Their lawyers tied up our petitions in court for years. They adopted illegal policies (on orders of Costco!) and told the police to use them to attack our constitutional right to petition government. They hauled another man and me into court for the "crime" of petitioning the government at a public access store (Costco!), which written police policy previously allowed. (We won that court case, and humiliated the city government, just as I predicted. We did not get off on a technicality, as one disgruntled council member grumbled; we were then, and remain now, innocent of the phony, politicized charge against us. There was never any crime of trespass. The jury agreed.) I have emailed the city council (read here) and politely urged them to stop their war on petitions. We will see whether they have the good sense to stop blocking petitions and arresting petitioners. My email will give you a better appreciation of what City Hall has put me through in its vicious and prolonged efforts to block your right to vote on ballot issues and to retaliate against me for my success on your behalf at the ballot box. STEP 1 Read the menu link, Council's New Ordinance. They are trying to void issue 300 by "interpreting" it not to cost the city any money, so they can keep their $27 million in PILTs (secret utility taxes) that issue 300 phases out over eight years. They also want to keep payments from enterprises for "city services" the city forces on those enterprises, like attorneys, auditors, and accountants. No true "business" can be forced to use government employees; it should use private sector ones. Here's what you must do RIGHT AWAY. The council will meet on this issue on February 23, 2010. Call all nine council members individually, and object STRONGLY. Recruit spouses and everyone else you know in the city to make those nine calls. If you leave a message, make it short so their voice mail tape does not run out. Tell them to REJECT the ordinance. Be polite and use your own words, but do it TODAY! Then ALSO send a separate email to each of the nine. See the email addresses below. Do it TODAY! Don't let them steal the election after our victory! You should: phone, email, write, AND FAX all nine members, and tell them politely, but firmly, that they MUST obey the wishes of the voters. Their email addresses and CIty Hall phone numbers are: lrivera@springsgov.com (385-5986), dglenn@springsgov.com (385-5493), tgallagher@springsgov.com (385-5491), rpurvis@springsgov.com (578-9800), jmartin@springsgov.com (385-5486), lsmall@springsgov.com (385-5485), shente@springsgov.com (385-5487), bherpin@springsgov.com (385-5492) and spaige@springsgov.com (385-5470). Be polite, but firm. Speak to EACH member individually. MAKE ALL FOUR FORMS OF CONTACT. If you leave a voice message, also call their cell number if they leave one. You don't need to leave your full name. You may say, "This is a concerned citizen..." or "This is a taxpayer". You may also vary your ID--"Joe" in your letter, "J.P. Smith" in your email, and "A voter" in your FAX. Have your spouse and 25 friends each make all four contacts to all nine council members. Thanks again for your help. Now start calling and writing! And remember, DON'T PAY THEM ANY MORE! ******************************************************************** STEP 2 FILING FOR A REFUND OF YOUR FEES IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT You may also file in small claims court for your back payments. Here is online information about filing a case in small claims court. Go to the county courthouse at 270 S. Tejon. The filing fee is $31. The recovery limit is $7,500. Get a friend to serve at the city clerk's office (30 S. Nevada Ave.) one summons each on the city and on the storm water enterprise, your two defendants. Have him collect a $50 service fee from you only if you win and the city has to pay it. The court clerk will explain the filing process. The city does not pay an answer fee, so all you risk is a $31 filing fee and two or three hours in court. Make sure you bring your past bills, cancelled checks, or other proof. If you don't have them any more, ask the SWE to send you a receipt for your payment history. You should file a notice of claim form with the city before you file suit. Read C.R.S. 24-10-109 and follow its directions carefully. If there are 100,000 storm water accounts, and only 1% file suits for refunds, a city representative will be unable to appear at all those 1,000 trials and defend against all those citizen claims. They don't have enough attorneys. The small claims referee will also be overwhelmed. It will be national news of a new tax revolt. You can file again if the city continues to demand new fees. You can ask the small claims court to order the city to stop mailing bills that have already been decided in your favor, upon penalty of contempt of court. You will not be liable for their attorney costs. If they don't show up, prove your claim and get your judgment. Wait until the appeal time expires, then demand payment in full, including your $31 filing fee and $50 service of process fee. If they don't pay, you may record your court judgment and order the sheriff to attach their assets, or take the money from a city cash register, including attachment costs. (If they want to act like deadbeats and scofflaws, they should be treated that way!) You may have separate individual grounds for a refund--no runoff, improper measurement, etc. Bring your photos or other proof. You may also challenge the legality of the billing on the grounds that the Storm Water Enterprise (SWE) is not a lawful enterprise under the charter and constitution. Under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), Article X, section 20 of the state constitution (and similarly under Article VII, section 90 of the city charter), an enterprise is a "government-owned business authorized to issue its own revenue bonds and receiving under 10% of annual revenue in grants from all Colorado state and local governments combined." The SWE began with loans from the city, directly and through Utilities, of almost $2 million. That was more than 10% of its annual revenue; it was 100%. It was proclaimed an enterprise but did not qualify. Here is the proof. Insist the city prove the SWE's legal authority to issue ITS OWN revenue bonds (by itself, not via the city council). You can't prove a negative; the city has to prove the enterprise qualifies. If it doesn't qualify, its fees were illegal revenue and were illegally not included in city revenue for purposes of refunding excess revenue under the TABOR fiscal year spending limits, as the constitution and charter require. SWE is not a "business," which has been generally defined in cases by the state supreme court. There is also an Attorney General opinion that will be posted here, which says a TABOR enterprise business must serve voluntary customers for goods and services on a competitive basis. Obviously, the SWE did not do that. You may also contest the fee as a tax with the arguments contained here. The existing definitions of "tax" v. "fee" in 1992 are summarized by the legal memo of the state legislature's lawyers in the first week of the first session after TABOR passed. The state constitution can be changed only by state voters, not by word manipulation by lawyers and judges. To allow appellate courts to rewrite the meaning of "tax" is to allow them to rewrite the constitution without voter approval. That is illegal, a violation of the separation of powers doctrine, and the right of the people to vote on tax increases. A "tax" was, is, and will remain a mandatory government charge for services of general public benefit. That is what the storm water "fee" is, and why it is a tax. The city admits in its documents the fee is really a tax. See such a document here. You can also ask for a ruling that the second sentence of #300 ended the fees as of November 16th at 10:20 a.m. when the clerk-recorder certified the election results. (See www.car.elpasoco.com.) Charter section 12-70 (b) says an initiated ordinance takes effect when the election results are certified. Thus, any future bill is prohibited, because it can be a fee, not a tax requiring voter approval in advance, ONLY if it is for a targeted purpose, and that purpose has been made illegal. SWE can no longer make "gifts or subsidies" to the city by working on city-owned infrastructure. You may quote all the arguments on that point on this website. You may also cite my op-ed as the author of #300 (read here.) Ask the judge to rule that they owe you your past payments, made under duress by illegal threats of liening your property, putting the unproven lien on your property TAX bill, and damaging your credit. If you won't defend your rights as a voter and taxpayer, who will? Douglas Bruce Proud author of #300

THE RAIN TAX

WELCOME!

Our grassroots group wants to make Colorado Springs family-friendly. That's why we are promoting this short and simple ballot issue. Want to STOP the stormwater "enterprise" abuse? Want to protect our right to vote on tax increases like the stormwater "fee" that is really a tax? Want to phase out other, SECRET enterprise taxes, also not approved by voters, that now cost you almost $140 per year? Of course you do!

Last November, our petition (city issue #201) received 46% of the vote at the end of the longest ballot Colorado voters have ever seen. Developers spent over $100,000 to scare voters. Many people have said they thought they were voting AGAINST the stormwater ordinance, when they needed to vote "FOR" our reform petition to end it. We have refiled our petition, updating it to 2010. Read the prior Gazette coverage Here and Here. We need your help NOW distributing fliers. When we vote FOR this petition, the stormwater tax will END. If you pay it now, you will NOT get a refund. So don't pay it! All stormwater "fees" must end because they are dedicated to stormwater projects. The supreme court has said they cannot qualify as a fee unless spent on the specified purpose. (If diverted to other purposes, they become taxes.) Since spending them on city property and city programs is a gift and subsidy from the enterprise to the city, and that is expressly prohibited by this petition, those fees must end. Stormwater must return to being a city public works responsibility. Let's end the hated and illegal stormwater tax! Let's phase out the hidden and illegal utility tax ("payment in lieu of tax")! Let's defend our right to vote on all city taxes! In November, vote FOR this simple reform.

Volunteer Here to help pass this ballot issue in the November 2009 election.

THANK YOU !

DANGER!

The city has publicly signaled that it will not obey the will of the voters in passing issue 300. Read here. How much more lawless and reckless can they be? Our corrupt city government has tried to sabotage this petition for years. Now they see it will pass this November, and they are flip-flopping to say it won't do what they have warned for years that it WILL do--namely, end the illegal stormwater tax and thus its enterprise. The enterprise will be without money and without mission. It will be prohibited from making gifts and subsidies to the city with the fees it illegally collected, so it cannot collect fees it cannot spend on the intended purpose. This is a call to arms! Get involved in distributing fliers. Buy a yard sign. Buy bumper stickers. Phone and email everyone you know. Explain to all city residents you meet why they must vote "FOR" issue 300 to end this lawless program. Don't reward the city for its devious and dishonest political tactics. Its announced refusal to obey the election results on a citizen petition must not be rewarded; it must be buried by an overwhelming vote FOR issue 300.

TAX POLICY

"It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part." - Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father "The power to tax involves the power to destroy." - John Marshall, Chief Justice "It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today, and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now." - John F. Kennedy, President "The only way to kill capitalism is taxes, taxes, and more taxes." - Karl Marx, Communist "The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny." - Inaugural address, President Calvin Coolidge

RUN ENTERPRISES LIKE BUSINESSES!

THE PURPOSE OF OUR BALLOT ISSUE IS TO STOP CITY ENTERPRISE FINANCIAL ABUSES IN ORDER TO SAVE ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS' MONEY. THIS BALLOT ISSUE ENFORCES THE STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AND CHARTER DEFINITION THAT AN ENTERPRISE IS A "GOVERNMENT-OWNED BUSINESS" WHICH CANNOT CHARGE ITS OWN TAXES OR PERFORM PUBLIC WORKS OR OTHER POLITICAL OR GOVERNMENTAL ROLES. ENTERPRISES (BUSINESSES) PROVIDE GOODS AND SERVICES ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS ONLY. PRIVATE COMPANIES CANNOT COLLECT THEIR BILLS BY LIENING YOUR HOUSE OR PUTTING THEIR MONETARY CLAIMS ON YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL; THEY MUST PROVE IN COURT THEIR LAWFUL CLAIMS BASED ON VOLUNTARY CONTRACTS. ENTERPRISES SHOULD NOT IMPOSE, COLLECT, OR FORWARD HIDDEN CITY TAXES, INCLUDING MANDATORY "FEES" THEY COLLECT AND SPEND LIKE TAXES, OR "SUBSTITUTE TAXES." THEY CANNOT COMPEL PAYMENTS TO DO PUBLIC WORKS CITY TAXES PREVIOUSLY PAID FOR, OR TELL CITIZENS WHAT TO DO. WE MUST BE TREATED AS VOLUNTARY BUSINESS CUSTOMERS, NOT COERCED, INVOLUNTARY TAXPAYERS. ENTERPRISES MUST MAKE DECISIONS THAT ARE BUSINESS-BASED, NOT FOLLOW POLITICALLY-BASED DIRECTIVES FROM THE COUNCIL. THE LATTER END UP RAISING BUSINESS COSTS AND COSTING THEIR "CUSTOMERS" (US) MORE MONEY BY SQUANDERING MONEY AND RAIDING BUSINESS ASSETS FOR POLITICAL OR GOVERNMENTAL PURPOSES.

WHAT OUR BALLOT ISSUE DOES

Phases out over eight years SECRET utility and other enterprise taxes, some called "payments in lieu of taxes," that were never voter-approved. In 1991, voters enacted a repeal of residential utility taxes.These taxes are now bigger than ever with these "substitute tax" payments that are not even disclosed on your utility bill. All the savings from this gradual reduction in these illegal hidden taxes now paid to the city will reduce customer bills. Utility customer savings by the eighth year will be almost $140 per year. That's about one month's utility bill in yearly savings! The savings will be the same dollar amount for all customers. Requires the council to treat enterprises as businesses, as current law requires, not as political slush funds. For start-up costs, the city loaned the stormwater enterprise $1,890,000 and the Utilities enterprise loaned it $240,000. Both loans were unsecured by any collateral--not a good business decision by Utilities, but a political directive by the politicians on the council. In July 2007, Utilities also overpaid ($184,000) another enterprise for a sliver of worthless land. Utilities admits it won't use the land. It was just subsidizing another failing city enterprise, which lacks enough funding on its own to continue. Now Utilities wants a rate increase to cover this politically motivated spending. This petition will stop loans, gifts, and subsidies between enterprises, or between the city and an enterprise. Such businesses must stand on their own and make sound business decisions, not be a political slush fund for the council. This measure will stop the stormwater enterprise and its fee because that money has been justified and is now being used as a gift and subsidy to the city's stormwater backlog. The city owns its infrastructure and so the enterprise is giving the city free repair work; by any definition, that is a gift and subsidy from the enterprise to the city. This petition will end that practice immediately. It will also end the Development Review Enterprise for similar reasons (not a competitive business, but an enterprise using involuntary fees to perform traditional governmental land use policy enforcement functions as a gift and subsidy to the city). It is no different than the police enforcing other city code policies.

WASTEFUL SPENDING

"Colorado Springs Utilities' land purchases for a reservoir were so sloppy and costly, City Auditor Jeff Litchfield said, it 'blew my mind.'" (Click Here) "The utility mistakenly gave the Internal Revenue Service an extra $1.1 million." (Click Here) Please read the ten-page official report on wasteful city spending. (Click Here) Workers at Colorado Springs Utilities have been paid $38.7 million in bonuses in the past four years under a program that rewards more than 90 percent of the employees. (Click Here) Colorado Springs Utilities Ex-Cashier Accused of Embezzling $435,000. (Click Here) Note the $300K "accidental" overpayment by Stormwater Enterprise to the city. This misuse of Stormwater's illegal tax revenue shows why we must phase out payments, gifts, loans, and subsidies from enterprises to the city. This gross overcharge is sheer money laundering. (Click Here)

OVERVIEW

No one denies we have a backlog of drainage projects. That backlog was created by cynical, intentional neglect over decades by this and past councils. They wanted to create a crisis to justify this $16.23 million yearly theft. But stealing is never justified because the thief promises to spend the money on good things! Nothing ever justifies taking away our precious right to vote...NOTHING! The city budget is $405 million this year, not counting $52 million in "off-budget" spending from the RTA tax we also pay, plus other sources. Just the $405 million base budget is about $4,000 per average family of four in city spending That's too much! In 2001, the city asked us for a $5 million per year tax increase for drainage projects. We said 'no" and told them to cut out the waste first. The city budget is now tens of millions higher, but none of it went for the drainage backlog, and they did not cut out the waste. Now they are TAKING THREE TIMES the amount they requested in 2001, and not even asking us. How? By calling this tax a "fee" so that we can't vote on it! Calling a city public works program an enterprise (a business) also means its revenue is not subject to the city's TABOR spending limit. This is a flagrant evasion of the law because it grows city spending by violating all legal controls. If they get away with this illegality, this "fee" can be doubled or tripled at any time. They can also impose new "fees" without voter approval for police patrol, road repair, park maintenance, salaries and bonuses, and ANYTHING else. We will no longer have any control on city spending. THE SKY'S THE LIMIT! Freeing enterprises from paying city lawyers, auditors, and other council appointees will allow enterprises to run as independent businesses. It won't "cost the city," as the city claims. As enterprises phase out payments to the city for services, they will phase in their own staff. City income and expenses are reduced equally. The city can still require reports, but not payments. Amazingly, the city is taxing churches, which the constitution exempts from property tax. It is taxing other non-profits. It is taxing the federal, state, and county governments. It is taxing school districts. So thousands of weekly church donations are being taken from religious uses and spent on city salaries. The county has a budget drain by paying $40,000 in city taxes. Taxing schools diverts funds from education to city taxes. And since when can a "business" tax the federal government? Read our examples of city wasteful spending at this site under City Waste. Think of all the bonuses, thefts, mistakes, and other revenue losses you hear about weekly. Think of the other cases that are never uncovered! The only way to force the city council to cut wasteful spending is to put them on a true budget and make them set priorities. It begins here and now.

NOTICE:    The city has now issued citations to me and another peaceful petitioner. It is part of the city's decades-long campaign to harass me personally and block our right to petition politically. They have misused the police department, Utilities, code enforcement, the city attorney's office, clerk's office, municipal court, and many other city agencies in their illegal effort to crush me. We are innocent and will demand a speedy jury trial. We have committed no criminal act, but are simply private citizens exercising our First Amendment right to petition the government. Click here to read the August 17th press release detailing just SOME of the city's shameful tactics. Then read the news article here. Read here a recitation of the city's lengthy parade of petition attacks. Then get involved! Volunteer to distribute fliers this October during our campaign to pass our petition.

Stop liberal tax-and-spenders' dreams of Big Government. Keep more of our money in our family budgets!

You may email your comments and questions to info@cityreforms.com and we will reply quickly.

Thanks for your interest. We hope to hear from you soon.

Douglas Bruce taxcutter@msn.com

HELP CLEAN UP CITY HALL!

PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR PETITION.