Dear Editor,

It has been said that the Gilpin County Community Center is the “Jewel of the County.” A place where old and young can enjoy swimming, various types of fitness, social events, fairs, an emergency lifeline, etc. It is, in fact, the one place that serves an essential need as the space that creates community. A place where “everybody knows your name.”

The past informs us that when the County’s budget is negotiated, Community Center funding needs are routinely relegated. Everyone agrees that First Responders perform essential services and support that. The managers of higher priority, essential departments will probably tell you that their departments are under-funded. Parks & Recreation are, by definition, discretionary and in the battle for fiscal responsibility, Community Center funding is sacrificed for the “greater good”.

Ironically, the only public space where the fellowship of community is shared, the Community Center does not get sufficient funding; that is how things work for The Jewel of the County. It gets the bare minimum. An amount that allows it to operate but not an amount that allows it to be managed in the way an actual Jewel of the County deserves.

When the “No New Tax” people state that it is fundamentally wrong to create a permanent funding source for a discretionary budget item, they are technically correct but, by failing to recognize the community benefit, they functionally miss the point.

The slogan used by this same crew is founded on principles of disinformation / misinformation. A “YES” on 1A will maintain your property tax rate at the exact same rate it has been for the past three years. We currently enjoy the second lowest property tax rates among all counties in Colorado.

Some of them say that there is a hidden mechanism that will permit the county to redirect these funds for other purposes; another “meme” based on disinformation / misinformation. There is no evidence within the public document that allows this.

A “YES” vote provides a dedicated source of funding that pays for a portion of the Community Center budget. This partial but dedicated funding stream helps the budget process to work better.

A “YES” vote helps to ensure that maintenance and capital improvements that have long been kicked down the road, can be planned and performed. If not “YES,” where does the funding come from? The “NO” people told us to hope for the best. Hope is not a strategy.

A “YES” vote is a vote for The Jewel of the County.

Phil Gibbs

Black Hawk