lora thomas
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Douglas County approves $38 million in property tax relief
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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,…
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Lora Thomas eyes Bob Marshall’s House seat, Tina Peters will stand trial and Jared Polis spells out priorities ahead of new session | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Today is Jan. 9, 2024, and here’s what you need to know: 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…
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DougCo Commissioner Lora Thomas to run for House District 43
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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.…
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Attorney to DougCo commissioners: water project still not ready for prime time
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While two of the three Douglas County Commissioners continue to look favorably at a project that would siphon water out of the San Luis Valley, an attorney the commissioners hired to review the proposal remains convinced the project faces a host of legal and other hurdles that show no signs of being resolved. The attorney,…
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Douglas County commissioners suspend Lora Thomas as chair
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Commissioners from Douglas County today said they suspended Lora Thomas as chair of the board. They also called for an investigation into Thomas’ “conduct” over the latter allegedly circulating a resignation letter from a first responder. In statement published on the county’s website, the commissioners said Thomas did so “for her own political advantage.” “Today, the Board…
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Polis digs in as criticism grows over handling of latest COVID surge
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In early April, Gov. Jared Polis’s public optimism neared its apex. After a winter spent fighting an unprecedented COVID-19 surge, cases were falling, mortality had plummeted, vaccines were flowing and a Colorado summer beckoned. Four months before, the governor had giddily greeted a FedEx truck delivering the first batch of doses to Colorado. He was…
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Survey: Given a chance, DougCo voters may well have opted for more transportation funding
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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…
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Will DougCo’s jail tax now accommodate Pueblo’s shoplifters?
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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…
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Should yesterday’s jail tax fund today’s transportation needs? DougCo voters won’t get a chance to say
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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…
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How to fund better highways without a tax hike? Douglas County’s Lora Thomas has an idea
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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…