The campaign for and against the Centennial Home Rule Charter has been heating up. Recently some of the people opposing the Charter have taken positions which must be addressed.

The truth about power and control:

· Under the Charter, the mayor has less power than under statutory rule.

· The Charter ensures that citizens have more access to their government (recall, referendum, initiative, audit committee, election commission, investment committee, budget committee, etc.).

· Home Rule gives the citizens of the city far more control over their own city government. Currently, if you want to change the city government in some way that is dictated in the state statutes, you must get the state legislature to write the change into law. By becoming a Home Rule city, the citizens have more flexibility to propose ordinances, initiate an ordinance and even initiate an amendment to the Charter.

The truth about money:

· The question of whether or not to be a Home Rule city has nothing to do with the city's financial issues of the past. However, if all businesses that should collect and remit to Centennial did so, we may not have needed an increase in the rate from 1.5%.

· The city's tax rate is currently lower than most surrounding municipalities at 2.5%. Only Lone Tree is lower at 1.5% because it has Park Meadows from which to draw (and they just voted last week to raise it!)We can be pretty surethere are businesses within Centennial that are still collecting Aurora, Englewood or Littleton sales tax (which is higher than ours) and sending it to those cities. The Charter will give us the right to collect those taxes for up to three previous years, then make sure those businesses are paying Centennial the correct sales tax, and we will be able to keep our sales tax as low as possible.

· Home Rule levels the playing field for Centennial businesses. There are businesses located outside of Centennial that are shipping goods into the city that are either not collecting Centennial sales tax or collecting the sales taxes for the cities in which they're located. With the Charter we would correct those businesses and collect up to three years of back sales tax owed to Centennial. Businesses in Centennial who deliver goods into other cities around us are required to pay a sales tax or use tax to those other cities. So why shouldn't businesses that deliver goods into Centennial have to do the same? A lot of this would result in a lower tax rate paid by the citizens of Centennial and more sales tax collection for the city.

The truth about other cities:

· If our city's voters say "Yes" to our Home Rule Charter in June, Centennial will become the 97 th home rule city in Colorado.

· Of the 33 most heavily populated cities in our state, Centennial, at 10 th largest with over 100,000 residents, is the only city NOT to have our own home rule charter. The next largest statutory city is Erie, with a population of only around 15,000 residents!

· At present in Colorado, fewer than 10% of all citizens living in a city or town live under statutory law, as we do...and most of them live in very small towns with populations of fewer than 2000 residents.

· Our city is ready NOW for home rule. There is no magic age at which home rule is destined. Lone Tree took its home rule step within 3 years of incorporating.

The truth about fees and eminent domain:

· Currently, as a statutory city, Centennial can already impose various kinds of fees for services.

· Under the Charter, higher numbers of positive votes of the City Council will be required for new franchises, franchise fee increases and eminent domain. The Charter Commission discussed these issues at length and came up with solutions that allow Council to do the city's business, but require more agreement and a more deliberative process.

The truth about oversight:

· The City Clerk and the City Treasurer currently have no oversight duties.

· By being an elected position, the current Clerk and Treasurer are politicians who cannot be removed from office by any means other than recall.

· A politician is not guaranteed to report accurately and openly.

· A multi-member Election Commission (written into the Charter) will be required to operate within the Colorado Open Meetings law, but a politician can sit in a back office alone and make decisions without ever being held responsible for those decisions.

The truth about the law:

· As a statutory city, Centennial already has the power to limit the number and kind of pets you have (ask the people in Fox Ridge about the tiger that was living in their neighbor's basement!) Yes, as a HomeRuleCity, Centennial would be able to enact a breed-specific dog ban (ie. pit bulls), but this is not written into the Charter. In order to enact such a ban the City Council would have to pass an ordinance, including holding a public hearing.

The truth about removal of councilmembers:

· The Charter does not have any time limitation for "removal" of a council member. In fact, the charter simply states what is the current operation as a statutory city - no change at all! It does allow for earlier recall by citizens of their elected officials. All of this protects the citizens.

· The city's decisions to contract services or bring them "in house" can be made whether we are a statutory or Home Rule city. The city has already made the decision to shift some services from one provider to another, or to provide them directly. This has nothing to do with the Home Rule issue.

The truth about the size of the city:

· Going Home Rule has nothing to do with the size of the city government. If you are concerned about the size of government, remember that whatever has been done until now has been done as a statutory city.

· The city never promised "no more than 20 employees" only that the city would keep the number minimal. For a city of 100,000 people our budgeted 2009 employee count of 52.7 is conservative for any city close to our size. The city currently has 43 staff members. There are several others working for the city as contractors, which is exactly how the city promised to do business originally - contract for as many services as possible.