Today is the first day of Fall, and the autumnal equinox (equal hours of light and dark). Sunrise will happen at 6:47AM and sunset at 6:47PM. The days will continue to get shorter until December 21st. On that day, we’ll have 9 hours, 21 minutes of daylight. Daylight Savings Time ends on November 3rd.
6PM The Golden Investment Task Force will meet tonight in City Council Chambers. This is the first time in several months that this group has met. As you may recall, they were formed to go over the long list of “wants” that we have accumulated over the years. When we have public meetings–like the ones we did a few years ago, when we compiled the Clear Creek Master Plan–we always emerge with a long list of “nice to have” projects. When we have extra money in our budget, we fund them. The task force was formed because we’ll be paying off the golf course, water park, and community center soon. Once those debts are paid off, we’ll be able to take on new debt.
Personally, I would prefer that we just enjoy being debt-free for a while. In recent years, we have been spending nearly $4 million/year in “debt service.” Couldn’t we fund a few projects out of that, instead of always repaying past debts with interest? But then, I’m a homeowner, and I think in terms of mortgages and the desirability of paying them off.
Once the Task Force began the conversation about our next big expenditures, it became clear that extra “debt capacity” from paying off the golf course, etc., wouldn’t be enough to satisfy our longings, so we began looking at creating a new tax–a lodging tax. The City estimates that we could generate another $1 million/year with a lodging tax. But again, they’re not looking at that as additional yearly revenue–they’re seeing it as “bonding capacity–” how much more could we borrow, based on this new $1 million/year?
But WAIT! There’s MORE! Since the Investment Task Force last met, a hot new must-have purchase has entered the scene. Coors wants to sell its office building on 10th Street and several acres of property in the Goosetown neighborhood. City Council considers this a screaming deal, because it will give us additional Creek-front property. Coors was asking $12.5 million for the building and the land. Initial estimates were that it would take another $12 million to remodel the building to fit it to our needs. The City has made arrangements to borrow $25 million for the purchase and remodel.
Our pre-purchase inspections have indicated that the building is in sad shape and we would probably want to demolish it and build something new. The City plans to spend much of 2020 having public meetings to ask the public what they would want in a new municipal center. Staff have mentioned cost estimates of up to $50 million.
So we’ll be starting to build yet another wish list. At some point, I would like to take a collective step back and ask ourselves, “Yes, we want ALL of that stuff–more parks, more open space, more affordable housing, a nicer city hall, a performing arts center, more traffic calming, more bike lanes, city-wide broadband, an expansion to the water park, and on, and on…but do we want it enough to keep incurring more debt? Could we live without it?” See tonight’s meeting packet.
Additional Monday Events
10AM – Everything Dinosaur Talk at Dinosaur Ridge
11:15AM – Let’s Dance at Golden Library
6PM – Crochet for Beginners at the Golden Library
6:30PM – Open Mic at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
Tuesday Preview:
12PM – Power Lunch Lecture at NREL
2PM – Raise a Pint, Lend a Hand at Holidaily Brewing
4PM – Under the M Farm Stand
6PM – Mobility & Transportation Advisory Board at Public Works
6PM – Golden Bicycle Cruise – Zombies
6:15PM – Cooking Class at Earth Sweet Botanicals
6:30PM – Home Buyers and Sellers Seminar at the Golden Library
6:30PM – Front Porch Golden Book Club at the Golden Community Center
7PM – Karaoke Tuesdays at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
