douglas county commission
-
Douglas County commissioner Lora Thomas resigns, accusing fellow officials of harassment
—
by
Lora Thomas, who has served on the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners since 2016, announced Friday she is resigning, effective immediately. Thomas said she can no longer take the “unrelenting attacks, harassment and punishment” from fellow commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal. Thomas, who is term-limited, said she had planned to serve out the…
-
Douglas County commissioners reissue censure of Lora Thomas, accusing her of spreading misinformation
—
by
Douglas County commissioners Abe Laydon and George Teal voted to reissue the 2023 censure of fellow Commissioner Lora Thomas, accusing her of spreading “misinformation, disinformation, or frank untruths” in her weekly newsletter to constituents. In August 2023, Teal and Laydon voted to censure Thomas, accusing her of “public shaming of county volunteers with inaccurate information.”…
-
Douglas County approves $38 million in property tax relief
—
by
After the state rejected their efforts to reduce residential property values last month, Douglas County commissioners approved an 18% mill levy decrease on Tuesday to provide some relief to home owners facing steep tax increases. Along with approving the $671 million 2024 budget on Tuesday, Douglas County voted to reduce the levy by 3.679 mills,…
-
DougCo Commissioner Lora Thomas to run for House District 43
—
by
Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas, who will be term-limited on the county commission at the end of the year, has filed to run for House District 43, which includes Highlands Ranch. Thomas’ name had been mentioned as one of several Republicans interested in running for the 4th Congressional District seat held by the retiring U.S.…
-
… And speaking of public safety in Pueblo: It now will send its shoplifters straight to jail. In Castle Rock.
—
by
They can’t say they weren’t warned. Puebloans who help themselves to a five-finger discount at local shops at last will face swift justice following a decision by the Pueblo City Council Monday to lock up the city’s proliferating shoplifters. Justice probably would come even more swiftly if the miscreants didn’t first have to make the…
-
Survey: Given a chance, DougCo voters may well have opted for more transportation funding
—
by
Not long after a Douglas County commissioner was rebuffed in her bid to let county voters reroute some law enforcement funding to transportation, a new survey suggests they would have jumped at the chance if the proposal had gone to the ballot. You’ll recall County Commissioner Lora Thomas proposed a ballot issue last month to reshuffle proceeds from…
-
Will DougCo’s jail tax now accommodate Pueblo’s shoplifters?
—
by
Given Douglas County commissioners’ vote last week to shelve a proposed ballot issue rerouting some of the county’s Justice Center sales tax to fund highway expansion, it was hard not to find irony in a news report out of Pueblo a few days later. The Pueblo Chieftain’s headline said it all: “Pueblo may pay to send…
-
Should yesterday’s jail tax fund today’s transportation needs? DougCo voters won’t get a chance to say
—
by
We put the question a bit differently earlier this week: Can a community spend too much on law enforcement when there are underfunded, competing needs? Perhaps not – at least, for the two Douglas County commissioners who nixed a proposal by the commission’s third member late Wednesday to ask voters to shift some of the…
-
How to fund better highways without a tax hike? Douglas County’s Lora Thomas has an idea
—
by
A proposal now on the table in Douglas County attempts to find a balance between two perennial public-policy priorities: law enforcement and transportation. Freshman County Commissioner Lora Thomas wants to ask burgeoning DougCo’s voters to shift some county revenue from the former to the latter. Her pragmatic solution, up for consideration by the commission on Tuesday: Reconfigure a long-standing county sales tax that…
