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Commissioner responds to dog licensing foes

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Contributed by: Kathy Hartman on 6/21/2007

This letter is in response to a reader's letter about mandatory dog licensing in Jefferson County. Read it here

TABOR limits governments' funding options in several ways. One limit is that TABOR does not allow increases in taxes without a vote of the people. Another is that TABOR does not allow the county to increase its spending beyond the amount it spent last year plus inflation plus population growth.

By increasing the dog license fees, the County increased a fee for a service. Since fees for services are not "taxes" under TABOR, no election is required. In addition, since the County refrained from property tax increases and the revenue generated by the dog licenses is so small, it will not cause the County's spending to exceed the TABOR limits.

TABOR encourages migration from general property taxes to fees for services under the theory that governmental services should be paid for by those who use them. Incorporating this philosophy, the County is shifting a small part of the cost of taking care of lost, abandoned, injured, or dangerous pets from the general property taxpayers to those who have dogs.

Kathy Hartman is a Jefferson County Commissioner.

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Submitted By: Gail Kirkegaard

posted on 6/25/2007 @ 10:36:05 AM

(Not Rated)

"Fees for service" would mean that if I lost my dog, I'd pay a fee for the service of recovering her. Paying a mandatory license fee is not paying for a service to me, but service to others who have lost their dogs.

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