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Re-1 mill levy committee rakes in financial support

John StroudPost Independent Aspen, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS – The campaign committee supporting the Roaring Fork School District Re-1’s $4.8 million mill levy override proposal in Tuesday’s election has raised more than $29,000 in its effort to try to convince voters to pass the measure.According to final pre-election campaign finance filings turned in to the Colorado Secretary of State by the Oct. 28 deadline, the Vote for Our Kids committee in support of Ballot Question 3E has taken in another $5,071 in contributions since Oct. 17.That amount was on top of more than $24,300 in contributions received in the previous reporting periods since early September when the campaign began, according to reports filed by campaign treasurer and former Re-1 school board member Michael Bair.As of last week’s report, the committee still had $14,373 on hand for the final push before the Nov. 1 election.Re-1’s mill levy proposal would provide $4.8 million in additional local property tax support for Re-1 schools in Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs. It is being proposed as a means to offset the $5.1 million in lost state funding over the last two years due to state budget cuts.Vote for Our Kids campaign chairman Matt Hamilton said the large amount of contributions put the committee in a good political position on the issue.”If you’re going to do it right, you have to be funded appropriately to try to pass an issue like this,” Hamilton said. “The community is supporting our efforts, and hopefully we will have support at the ballot box.”Most of the spending to support the override was on newspaper, radio and web-based advertising, as well as yard signs and campaign literature.Among the larger donors to the campaign have been Alpine Banks, the Aspen Skiing Co., the Roaring Fork Public Education Foundation and the Basalt High School Booster Club.Meanwhile, the Friends of Garfield Re-2 committee in support of the Garfield School District Re-2’s mill override proposal had raised about $10,700 in its effort to pass the measure, according to the group’s Oct. 28 report.The Re-2 proposal (Question 3C) seeks an additional $3 million in district general fund money, also to make up for losses in state funding that have resulted in budget cuts for Rifle, Silt and New Castle schools.Garfield District 16 in Parachute and Battlement Mesa is asking voters to approve a $4.8 million mill levy override, split between general fund needs ($1.2 million), a full-day kindergarten program ($583,000) and school building technology upgrades ($3 million). The building improvements portion would sunset after three years.The D-16 mill levy campaign committee in support of Question 3D, “Pursuing Leadership in Education, Determination, Growth and Excellence,” or PLEDGE, reported taking in a little more than $1,000 in its effort to pass the override measure.One other area noneducation mill levy override proposal on the ballot, Question 4A in the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District, seeks to raise $775,236 in additional property taxes to support the fire district.The Friends of the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District committee reported raising $1,515 in support of the fire district question.As to the candidates for local school board seats in the three school districts, none reported taking any contributions or making any expenditures on their campaigns exceeding $20, according to the Oct. 28 campaign finance filings.jstroud@postindependent.com