Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I support fiscal responsibility and work towards electing Colorado government officials who do so too. With that said, I feel that the responsible course of action for Ken-Caryl residents is to support a mill-levy increase, and remove the Ken-Caryl Ranch Metro District from the oversight of the TABOR amendment.

The KCRMD was created by our Master Association to do the heavy lifting of park and facility maintenance/management utilizing tax-exempt dollars. This has the effect of providing us up to 40% more financial power verses funding the District functions with assessed dues or user fees, which would be paid with our post-tax dollars. This unique feature of a recreation district greatly benefits us all. As with all public amenities, some of us use more, and some less, but across the board we all get more for our money using this mill-levy funding mechanism.

In removing the KCRMD from TABOR controls, we have to remember that the Metro District is Ken-Caryl Ranch residents only. Residents, who are elected by us, manage it for us. These people meet frequently at the Ranch House, where we are all welcome to participate in the process of managing Ken-Caryl Ranch's amenities. Since our control of the process is so intimate, there is no real reason to hamstring ourselves with laws that have a statewide focus.

Depending on conditions beyond our control, the mill-levy could be ratcheted down in the near future, and we would again be in this position of having to run elections to increase it. Why should we put ourselves through this unnecessary heartburn? If we feel the KCRMD board is not managing our (and their) assets effectively, we make it known at meetings. We can elect different board members, or we can run for the board ourselves. We have complete control over our own processes, so why should we make it doubly difficult for ourselves to manage Ken-Caryl Ranch?

I urge Ken-Caryl voters to familiarize themselves with these issues and vote to promote the best mechanisms for investing in our community.