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Home My WebLink About2010 09 13 Other Reports - Document distributed by Commissioner Jean Hovey Date: September 13, 2010 The attached document was distributed by Commissioner Jean Hovey during "Reports" at the September 13, 2010 City Commission Regular Meeting. TABOR is BAD FOR FLORIDA �3'SAf� 5 a` ato wig - 3 to BUSINESS New legislation to cap government revenues has been proposed for Florida. (SJR 2420) Commonly called TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) or Smart Cuts, this is a dangerous experiment. While not expressly stated, TABOR is also a cap on government spending, limiting its ability to enter into contracts and provide services. The proposal causes great harm to Fine Print businesses, especially those that depend on government contracts and makes government a weak partner in economic TABOR is a revenue an z ` development. TABOR will cost business. In Colorado, TABOR resulted in fewer contracts for businesses; t is ico ituti S EE it increased labor and healthcare costs; and it resulted in the f z � cost- shifting of programs and services to businesses for things #� that were once provided by state and local governments. it r�e�tr�t�e��aue an� 4 �E adtae grot to TABOR was such a disaster for Colorado's economy that for u th s€ of business leaders led the campaign to suspend it. population change us r fation nd, TABOR is a bad idea, and EVEN WORSE in the middle of a recession. • :• .it require s%voer approval The national recession has cost our state thousands of jobs and verrdeJe rerue eliminated billions of dollars in government spending, delaying ar�d�erdragtits {SJR our recovery. Ina time when businesses need services most, E E TABOR will cause the public sector to become a weak partner in 2 465 1 E 40 .40 451121 our recovery. TABOR would remove flexibility and increases fiscal �� instability fi rst an 410141 a�tet ena -A R - , cos u enc a In the middle of the worst economic crisis we've seen, TABOR makes even -less sense. It's rigid and arbitrary be drsa�#`ous 1 g Y formula will lock in current cutbacks for years to come. It will make it even ABOR ailed be ffective harder to dig -out of the current recession and make it more economic develop nt too difficult to create the jobs that Florida needs. Financial and,�ste, fed to�zJrnag�rg analysts specifically blamed TABOR for making Colorado's fiscal :reductions in i nfrastructure education, and transportation. crisis worse during the last recession. I cost Colorado,jo sand; TABOR would undermine local government's ability to ei y economic r�ecc ery in„ F„ make local decisions locally t lms eces c n ;Businesses We value our long- standing tradition of local control. TABOR ied bipartisan coalition to will replace local decision - making with a complicated, one-size- suspend T�JoR in 2005 fits -all formula on all local governments. Voters in each community should be able to decide these issues for themselves. TABOR makes government less accountable and less efficient. TABOR shifts responsibility for determining budgets away from elected representatives and transfers it to a complicated formula. As a result of TABOR, Standard & Poor's put Colorado on a "negative credit watch," and Governing Magazine ranked Colorado's finances as among the worst managed in the country. BUSINESS LEADERS IN COLORADO BELIEVE TABOR DEGRADED BUSINESS CLIMATE The effort to suspend TABOR and permanently eliminate the "ratchet" — known as Referendum C— was strongly backed by Colorado's business community. After witnessing declines in the public services the business community cares most about (higher education, transportation, and infrastructure), over 80 businesses and business groups, including 10 Chambers of Commerce, endorsed the TABOR suspension. • "For businesses to be successful, you need roads and you need higher education, both of which have gotten worse under TABOR and will continue to get worse." — Tom Clark, Executive Vice President of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce' • "[Business leaders] have figured out that no business would survive if it were run like the TABOR faithful say Colorado should be run — with withering tax support for college and universities, underfunded public schools and a future of crumbling roads and bridges." — Neil Westergaard, Editor of the Denver Business lournal • "The business community has said this is not good for business, and this is not good for Colorado." - Gail Klapper, director of the Colorado Forum, an organization of 60 leading CEOs • "But while the unrealistically simplistic TABOR strategy is being executed, by constitutional edict, the decay of Colorado's balance sheet, its net worth, representing the publicly owned capital stock that provides the foundation for economic activity, is unprecedented. It will, if unchecked, eventually lead to economic decay." — Rocky Scott, former president of The Greater Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation • "The bottom line is that institutions of higher learning in Colorado will continue to suffer funding shortfalls under the present system. If you ask the business community, a strong system of higher education is at the top of the list for economic development and the creation of jobs." — Dick Robinson, CEO of Robinson Dairy and member of the Colorado Economic Futures Panel • "[Colorado's higher education] system is at risk. The way we're going — because of TABOR and Amendment 23 — we're going to be basically out of public funds.... [S]peaking from a business standpoint, we're concerned because our success depends on the quality of the higher education system." — Raymond Kolibaba, Vice President of Space Systems, Raytheon Company • "Referendum C's passage was a statement by the electorate that assured business that Colorado's transportation network and higher education system would be able to meet their needs. We saw a spike of activity of out -of -state businesses interested in relocating here when Referendum C passed." — Joe Blake, president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce' Quoted in Daniel Franklin and A.G. Newmyer Ill, "Is Grover Over7," Washington Monthly, March 2005. 2 Neil Westergaard, "Business folks fed up with TABOR worship," Denver Business Journal, July 22, 2005. 3 Will Shanley, "State businesses unite to urge TABOR deal," The Denver Post, March 9, 2005. 'Rocky Scott, "Lawmakers must end partisan politics and solve state's problems," The Club for Growth, January 2005, http://www.coloradoclubforgrowth.org/ACommonMission.htm. s Dick Robinson, "Solutions to Funding Colorado's Colleges," The Denver Post, April 17, 2005, p. ES. 6 Quoted in Suzanne Weiss, "Colorado Leaders on Education. Picking Their Brains," HeadFirst, May 12, 2005, www.headfirstcolorado.org /adm /view article.pho ?story id =132. 7 "Ref. C aids economic recovery," The Denver Post, June 30, 2006.