With four days to go until Election Day, we are writing to ask for your support in passing ballot question 1A on the Nov. 5 election ballot. Our community has long struggled with the need for affordable housing for the workers who make our community function.
We know that over 90% of our county public safety workers, including sheriff deputies, jail detention officers and dispatch staff who answer our 911 calls, live outside of Pitkin County. We also know that the hospital has 300 workers that they are trying to house and that almost 60% of our child care providers live outside of county lines. Repeatedly, we hear from you that affordable housing is the top issue we should be working on, and one on which we are performing poorly.
Therefore, we have spent several years crafting a thoughtful ballot measure to raise dedicated funding to tackle this problem. We have tailored the program to prioritize housing for our critical community service workers, and also to leverage development-neutral solutions. Ballot issue 1A asks for a new and dedicated property mill levy to accomplish several goals.
We are asking for voter support to prioritize housing for our most critical workers in the areas of emergency response, transit, road and bridge maintenance, physical and mental health care, education and child care, through the construction, acquisition, preservation and operation of affordable housing. “Why do we need this money? And how can we possibly ask for more tax dollars?” Thes.