CHAFFEE REJECTS PARK TAX

CHAFFEE - The Chaffee city park tax proposal was voted down Tuesday by a wide margin, failing by more than 100 votes.

City voters snubbed the proposal, turning it away with 371 "no" votes to 262 "yes" votes, or 59 to 41 percent, respectively. If passed the proposal would have raised the city's park tax from 11 to 35 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

City Park Board President Robert Sullivan had said the tax increase would help with needed maintenance and repairs and allow for some improvements. City Council member Ed Gauthier of Ward 2, the council's liaison to the Park Board, had said the city was subsidizing the parks by $30,000 a year because of budget shortfalls.

Sullivan said Tuesday night he wasn't happy with the outcome of the vote.

"I just thought it would be a lot closer than that, either one way or the other," he said. "I don't know how it will affect us as a park.

"We haven't definitely pinpointed any services as to what we'll cut, but it's just a matter of time that we'll have to cut some things." The parks, he said, have already shouldered a 10 percent cut in funding the past two years and he's sure next year's cut will be the same or more.

Reached Tuesday night, Gauthier said he had a feeling the proposal might not pass because of comments he had received from citizens.

"I guess it was just the economy," he said. "That's what I heard mostly."

A lot of people didn't understand the tax would free up city money for long-range capital improvements, such as replacing the city's swimming pool, which is probably 60 years old, Gauthier said.

Ward 1 Councilman Jerry Wolsey, citing the country's weak economy, was the only city council member to vote against putting the park tax on the ballot. He said Tuesday: "Due to the recession, due to the high unemployment rate, people just said, `No.'

People are saving "every nickel, penny and dime they can right now," he said.

The Park Board had tentative plans to again propose a park tax increase in another election in the event the proposal was defeated, Sullivan said. But considering the margin of its defeat Tuesday, he said, he didn't know if that would occur.

Gauthier said a smaller park tax increase may be proposed later.