Broomfield Taxpayer Matters

Repeal and Replace Entire Charter Voted Down, What's Next?

Between 15 and 20 people showed up to the Regular Meeting on June 11th, to tell the Council why repealing and replacing the charter in one ballot question was a bad idea. Thanks to those of you who spoke up.

The fight is not over. We need transparency from the Council on ordinances that are incoherent and complex.

The Council will have a Study Session on July 18th to discuss the individual ballot measures that are important to the Staff to put forward on the ballot.

Please consider attending the June 18th Study Session to hear their discussion. Let us know that you will attend by visiting this page.

The presentation summarizing the items discussed can be found here, and the actual charter with red-lined changes can be found here. And, our summary of the changes that were discussed is available on our website here (please go to the April 16, 2024 study session section on the page).

So, how will they reconcile 56 changes as a single subject? The description of the changes are listed below, along with some questions and where the notes for the discussion can be found on Broomfield Taxpayer Matters Charter Review Committee webpage. You can also read the final version of the redline document here.

• Chapter VI: 6.4 Rezone for a specific property by resolution (not ordinance)
• Is there a reason for the way it was done originally?
• Are there any unintended consequences by changing this?
• Does this have to do with the State Legislature and their overreach in local zoning?
• See notes under Anna Bertanzetti and Jennifer Hoffman bullet points on August 21, 2023
• Chapter VI: 6.9 Publication of Ordinances (in newspapers, reduces costs)
• Are we limiting the public viewership of these ordinances, by eliminating the newspaper?
• Is the cost substantial enough to warrant a venue for transparency?
• See notes under Review of Charter Sections - Section 6.6 and 6.9 on July 17th, 2023
• Chapter IX - Personnel
• This changes the procedure for employees under the personnel merit system
• See notes under Chapter XI - Personnel Merit System on September 18th, 2023
• Chapter X - Legal and Judiciary: municipal courts change
• City Attorney can supervise both attorneys and staff under her department, not the Council
• The Associate Judge can hire and supervise attorneys, not the Council.
• See notes under Chapter X - Legal and Judiciary on October 16th, 2023

Remember, any changes to the Charter must go to a vote of the Broomfield Voters. The Law states that each ballot item must focus on a single subject.

Water Tanks - A Real Priority - Still Tabled

Nearly ten months ago, on September 26 2023, the City Council reviewed Resolution No. 2023-99 regarding the water tanks that were needed to provide adequate water pressure to residents.

The issue was tabled, just weeks before the 2023 election, and the City Council requested that the City Staff come up with a new design and costs to bury two water tanks.

Here is the note from September 26, 2023 City Council meeting minutes:

"Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Henkel seconded that Resolution No. 2023-99 be tabled to a future meeting and that staff return with a revised design that would fully bury the water tanks, with Councilmembers Anderson, Cohen, Henkel, Jezierski, Leslie, Lim, and Marsh-Holschen voting aye and Councilmembers Delgadillo, Shaff, and Ward voting nay. The motion to table passed 7-3."

As of the June 11 2024 Council meeting, 262 days have passed without a council decision, let alone discussion, on this critical issue.

Why is the City Council spending an inordinate amount of time on other "priorities" , including their March Focus Session and several City Council meetings pushing their Charter Repeal and Replace ballot measure (see above).

Why are they ignoring this public safety issue that they have created and exacerbated?

We will note that Councilmember Marsh-Holschen stated the issue will be brought up during the July 16th meeting...we'll see if that happens when the agenda for that meeting gets posted.

Up, Up, and Away - Rates Will Rise

There is a cost to replacing low cost energy with untested technology. Consumer's in Colorado will get a taste of that in the coming years as XCEL Energy is set to raise rates and decrease natural gas usage in return to a heavier reliance on electricity. So how is electricity generated?

In Colorado, of the state's electrical generation capacity need, about half comes from coal-fired power plants, one-third from natural gas, and about one-fifth from wind power of the needed capacity. So what form of energy is going to fill that gap once one-third of the natural gas is no longer there?

The cost of this will be a 1.1% rise in electricity rates and a 7% rise in natural gas rates. If you want less of something, tax it, or raise the cost of the resource. Here is a quote from PUC Chairman Eric Blank : “The electric transition took 25 years, I am worried we are trying to jam too much into five years. … I just don’t want to see rates double in 10 years.”

Senate Bill 264 is forcing companies to comply with laws written by legislators who probably have no understanding of the complexity of generating electricity. Do they understand that just because it is legislated doesn't mean the physics can support an all-electric society? My guess is no.

"Xcel Energy said in a filing that with a 2.5% cap it could only raise $34 million a year and cut emission in 2028 by only a fifth of what is needed to reach the 2030 target."

They want to replace furnaces in Colorado with heat pumps, which they say are more efficient, cost less, and are easy to install, but how do they work and are they viable in cold climates? We'll see, but here is a quote from Consumer Reports, "air-source heat pumps—the most common type because they’re easy to install and cost less than ground-source heat pumps—don’t make sense in places where temperatures drop below freezing. That’s because heat pumps work by absorbing free heat from the air outside your home and then transferring it inside. This is more difficult when the temperatures are lower because they’ll struggle to keep your house comfortable even in a mild cold snap, the story goes, and they won’t run efficiently in that kind of weather anyway. If you want high-efficiency electric heating in a cold climate, experts say you’ll need an expensive, hard-to-install ground-source heat pump, which absorbs heat from underground."

Once again, government is telling you what to do and forcing you to comply, which will only increase your costs and make your life more difficult.

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