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Blog Entry 8 of 15 Rhonda's Community News Blog

My HOA is just North of Arapahoe Road at Jordan Road. We have seen alot of changes in the area. Our HOA was established in 1959. The Valley Country Club was about the only other thing out here then. Now we are in the City of Centennial and the other side of Jordan Road is in the City of Aurora. Both cities and even Arapahoe County have many new proposed developments near us. As you may have heard, Centennial is going to ask the voters to consider making Centennial a Home Rule city. If the voters say 'yes' this will give our city many positive opportunities to improve how we operate our city. So, in November, voters will be asked to elect 9 to 21 Charter Commission Members. This Commission (if elected) will have 120 days to write a 'charter' for the city. This 'charter' will be the framework for how the city will operate. In my opinion, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of the Charter Commission, so that is why you will see my name on the ballot this November. Several of my friends who are involved in the community will also be on the ballot for the Charter Commission this year. When their names have been confirmed to be on the ballot, I will share that info with you on a future posting. There are lots of important local elections on this year's November ballot. I hope each voter will make a point of being an informed voter before marking your ballot this year.

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Centennial Home Rule Charter - Rhonda's Thoughts

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Contributed by: Rhonda Livingston on 1/20/2008

Why should the city of Centennial become a 'home rule' city? There are several good reasons to be 'home rule'. One of the most basic reasons is along the same lines as the foundation for the city 'less govemnment' and 'government by the people'. How will 'home rule' help? It will help because our elected offcials can create laws suited for our city. We, the registered voters and citizens of Centennial, have elected our Mayor and Council members. We have put trust in our elected officials to set policy and guide our city to continue to be a great place to live now and in to the future.

I invite you to attend city council meetings. I have attended nearly every council meeting for more than 5 years. There is alot of thoughtful conversation and consideration regarding policy and practices for Centennial. Yes, we laid the foundation of minimal city staff and status quo services. But, the citizens have spoken and now they have asked for moreservices and that requires more staff. Our current city staff has worked hard to give the citizens more services within the budget that we have. The staff has even figured out a way to bring more citizen services in house for less money than the contracts we have had up until now.

Another founding principal was to keep taxes low. Because we are currently a statutory city, that means that we have to rely on the State of Colorado to collect our sales taxes. The State of Colorado collects a fee from Centennial to cover the cost of collecting those sales taxes. The State of Colorado also has limited resources to do an audit (if at all) to make sure that the businesses that should be collecting sales taxes and then paying Centennial those taxes, are actually doing so. So, that means that our current finance department staff members can do nothing to make sure businesses are collecting and paying the appropriate taxes until we are a home rule city. For example, in summer 2007 our finance department provided a list of about 30 businesses in Centennial that do not appear to be collecting and paying the proper taxes. The staff presented their list to the officials at the State level and asked them to 'audit' those businesses. Due to the limited resources at the State level, they only audited one of the thirty business. That one business did have to pay taxes to the city but no other businesses were notified through the State level.

As a home rule city, our finance department would be able to conduct their own audit of businesses in Centennial to make sure the proper taxes were paid in a timely manner.

From what I have heard, most municipal tax auditors collect enough in back taxes to pay their own salary and have a surplus for city services. For that reason and others, I think it is important to bea 'home rule' city.

As a Charter Commission member, I can say that at our very first meeting in Novemberwe were all given the responsibility to create a document that is broad and timeless. It is our intent to create that kind of document. What could be more thrilling than to be a part of history in the City of Centennial.

These comments are based on my own observations. They may not reflect the views of city officials or others.

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Rhonda Livingston

Centennial , CO

Rhonda Livingston has posted 15 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 3/19/2006. Rhonda Livingston's average blog rating is 5.

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