Absentee DDA Ballots

Absentee ballots for the DDA Ballot Issues should be sent tomorrow.  Heard this from the Town Clerk yesterday.  So those of you who requested a ballot by mail  start checking your mailboxes Monday.
Absentee ballots for the municipal election should have gone out today, if all is on schedule

Open Letter to the Nederland Chamber of Commerce and the Nederland Library Board

Having heard that as a board you will be deciding how you will vote in the upcoming April DDA Ballot Issue election and knowing that many of your members have businesses and property within the Downtown Development District, I would like to take this opportunity to present a case for voting against the Ballot Issues before the electorate of the NDDA. 

First please consider the following,

On the day of the election the following facts are true:

1. There are no members of the Board of the Downtown Development District.  All the past and present members have resigned, so effective April 1, the only member left is the BoT liaison member who is up for re-election.

2.  We do not know who the next mayor will be.  The present Mayor is up for re-election and three candidates are running.

3. We do not know who will be on the BoT.  The Mayor and 4 other positions are up for election.  This is a majority vote of the BoT, so no matter what has been done in the past, we can not expect that to happen in the future.

With this much uncertainty concerning our elected and appointed officials, calling for a yes vote only on faith that the right thing will happen in the future, is not a positive approach.  Instead, it seems more logical to have the Town election and then move forward with appointing a new DDA board, which in turn will present a plan to the electorate of exactly how the $900,000+ will be used.

Further, the necessity of this election is because of the way the finances and tax money was used by prior boards.  As you may know, the finances did not comply with the TABOR regulations, and has required this election to bring the Town into compliance.  Granting borrowing authority of $900,000 is beyond the $350,000 that was out of compliance.  

Further, increasing the property taxes within the District by . 5 mills for another 7 years, puts the mill rate within the District the highest in the County (as per the Tax Assessors office).  This creates increases in rents and other charges by landlords to offset the increased expenses.

I have submitted my application for appointment to the DDA Board, but the present Mayor and BoT want a bigger pool than 3 or 4 people to chose from, before they will appoint people to fill the vacant DDA Board seats. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a limited pool of people who are eligible to serve and of those, some have already served many years.  The State Statutes require that a majority of the Board be property owners, which would be 4, and 1 BoT liaison, with 2 business owners.  In a small town like Nederland, with many absentee property owners, and many properties owned by the same person, this is a very difficult board to seat.

Please consider my recommendation of a NO vote for both Ballot Issues until these problems are solved.  It is possible to bring these ballot issues forward in the November election.  Many consider a NO vote at this time to be IN the best interest of the Town, allowing time for everything to calm down before moving forward.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Patricia H. Everson, P. E. Investors, LLC 

Introduction

The primary goal of this blog is to keep the voters, residents, taxpayers and businesses of the Nederland Downtown Development Authority up to date on information and issues concerning the Board of the DDA.

Basic Information on the upcoming Election for the DDA

ASK PAT

OUR TOWN

HOW DOES IT WORK?

QUESTION OF THE WEEK - BALLOT ISSUES FOR THE NDDA DISTRICT 

The upcoming April Election will have a special election for the constituents of the NDDA.  The questions before them are:

1. ISSUE A - AN INCREASE IN TAXES IN THE DISTRICT OF 5.00 MILLS FOR THE NEXT 7 YEARS......

1. ISSUE B -SHALL THE TOWN OF NEDERLAND DEBT BE INCREASED  $915,598 WITH A REPAYMENT COST OF $1,325,000.

Both these questions will determine the course of the NDDA for the next year or so.  If the voters decide not to approve either one, they could still be put on the ballot in the November elections, if approved by the new Board of Trustees.

What is ISSUE  A?  This is a continuation of a tax that was approved in 2005, when the District was originally formed.  It is paid by the commercial businesses and property owners.  The Town has estimated that approximately $26,723 will be collected each year.  This money must be used by the DDA for operating expenses, which could include maintenance of the new Phase 1 sidewalks, continuation of having an Executive Director, or small projects within the District.  How exactly this money would be spent will depend on who is going to be on the new Authority Board.  

What is the impact of ISSUE B?  This debt authorization is for a Plan of Development that was approved by the Board of Trustees in August of 2007.  This plan was called the Strategic Master Plan and included Phase I and II of the sidewalks, as well as Riverwalk, an enhanced Sidewalk Design and more.  A copy of the Plan can be found on the DDA website http://www.neddda.org/dda_strategic_master_plan.pdf.

 The second part of the authorization is for “master planning, beautification and enhancement of the Downtown area.” These plans are to be determined by the new Board of the NDDA with approval of the BoT after the elections.

This debt authorization will be paid by Tax Incremental Finance against selected properties in the District.  The borrowing may come from a bond issue, intragovernmental loans, such as the water fund,  or bank loans. The exact amount of loans and term will be determined by the members of the Authority Board and the Board of Trustees.

On election day, the voters of the NDDA District are being asked to vote for increasing the Town debt and extending an increase in taxes. Their decision must be made  without a clear indication of who will be on the NDDA Authority, who will be on the Board of Directors or who will be the mayor.