Property rights remain under attack from state government, but the district’s two lawmakers said Friday they will continue to fight back
About 30 people attended a town meeting in Las Animas, which gave the legislators an opportunity for a two-way conversation regarding the current legislative session.
State Sen. Ken Kester, R – Las Animas, said a fast-track bill to hike vehicle license fees passed a recent vote in the House and will likely become law.
He noted that both he and co-speaker Wes McKinley, D – Walsh, voted against the fees hike.
Kester said Gov. Bill Ritter seems unaware of the importance of the proposed Pierre Auger Observatory, a sprawling complex of measuring stations that would record cosmic rays striking southeast Colorado. A similar scientific complex is in South America.
Kester noted that Colorado fought hard to win the site from Utah, but the project will require some state funding participation.
Bent County Commissioner Lynden Gill asked Kester if Colorado has money for the cosmic ray project.
“That is why people are coming from all over the world to lobby for state funding. The governor does not know how big a deal this is,” Kester replied.
‘It is an issue we have to stay on top of,” Kester said earlier in the meeting..
“One thing we did do, we kept courthouse fees from going up,” McKinley commented about one price hike that got stopped while the state grapples with a severe drop in tax revenue due to the economic slowdown.
Bent County Clerk Patti Nickell asked the lawmakers how much money Bent County would see from the higher license vehicle fees.
“Probably nothing,” McKinley replied. He explained most of the money is supposed to be for roads but other transportation categories such as light rail will share in the expanded funds.
He noted it passed the Colorado House by a 34 to 31 vote.
McKinley said the opponents could not get the votes to kill the bill — “We tried.”
McKinley noted he could not get lawmakers to go along with his proposal to cut 10 percent from salaries paid to state employees who make more than $100,000 a year.
`He also had wanted to cut their expense accounts by 10 percent.
Lisa Trigilio, Bent County Economic Development Executive Director, asked for help in recruiting medical personnel to rural areas such as Bent County.
Some of the attendees told stories about onerous burdens being imposed by state bureaucrats who oversee school construction and highway transport.
An example was given by Pat Palmer of Lamar, who said his trucking company used to haul propane directly to Trinidad on Highway 160. Now, the Colorado State Patrol has orders to make his trucks detour to Lamar and through Las Animas and La Junta and then continue on to Walsenburg and intersect Interstate 25.
Palmer said it seems more dangerous to route propane through a more populated area.
McKinley agreed that some agencies are going around “with a heavy hand.”
“Some heads should roll in some of the agencies up there,” McKinley said
McKinley added that the Army’s proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site remains a big issue and he is again holding a trail ride for legislators this spring to acquaint them with the rancher’s side of the story.
The town meeting was held in the First National Bank of Las Animas lobby.
Kester said he thought the meeting went “very well. We will call some of these state bureaucrats in,”
McKinley added:
“There is too much authority coming out of the governor’s office.”
Las Animas, Colo. —
