Subject: Public Finance

• Chrysalis Graduates Two More

  March 12, 2008

• Our New Version of the National Anthem

  July 3, 2008

• Calling to Collect

  The City of Denver declares war on the state legislature over a telephone bill.

  October 23, 1997

• No Taxation Without Misrepresentation

  A state property-tax goofup means that a poor Colorado county has to pay back a huge oil company.

  January 15, 1998

• Best political use of an art show to get a bigger building

  June 29, 2000

• Off Limits

  August 24, 2000

• Best Place to Score With a Fifty-Something Whose Ex-Spouse Got the Mercedes

  March 29, 2001

• Best Rumor Producer

  March 24, 2005

• A Pain in the Assets

  July 28, 2005

• The Hundred Days' War

  How hard is it to find 90,000 citizens who want a tax cut? Ask Douglas Bruce.

  January 13, 2000

• Smoke Detector

  Anne Landman has dedicated her life to being a pain in the ash. Will it make a difference come election time?

  September 16, 2004

• Fire Sale

  The cost of cigarettes could go up in smoke this November.

  April 15, 2004

• In Sickness and in Wealth

  April 3, 2003

• Give Them a Hand

  The city lays all its chips on the table in a risky play for a new hotel.

  May 18, 2000

• Stretching the Limits

  Limo companies ride out a debate over longer vehicles, safety and lost tax revenues.

  September 16, 1999

• The Money Pit

  Mildred Bennett's lost her home, but she's got a $35,000 consolation prize.

  June 4, 1998

• Home Sick

  Is this crazy, or what? The only way Mildred Bennett can get her house back is to prove she's mentally disabled.

  January 22, 1998

• Someone to Lien On

  January 22, 1998

• Pack Contributions

  Tobacco lobbyists do a smokin' business with politicians.

  October 2, 1997

• Letters

  October 24, 1996

• Off Limits

  October 17, 1996

• Due Unto Others

  Next month, Colorado voters will decide whether the state's $5 billion worth of tax-exempt properties are all charity cases.

  October 10, 1996

• Stealing Home

  September 5, 1996

• This Property Is Condemned

  The EPA messes with a widow over a Commerce City warehouse and winds up making its own mess.

  August 22, 1996

• Sowing Discontent

  The anti-crime Weed and Seed program is leaving behind a lot of scorn and thorns in Denver neighborhoods.

  August 22, 1996

• Walk Softly and Carry A Big Hockey Stick

  June 13, 1996

• Heaven is a suburb

  The streets aren't paved with gold down in the brand-new city of Lone Tree --yet.

  May 23, 1996

• That Fits the Bill

  Need some special-interest legislation? Here's how this year's session measures up

  May 9, 1996

• Alms for the Not-So-Poor

  A "nonprofit" hospital gets its lucrative office buildings taken off the tax rolls.

  March 7, 1996

• THE BREAKS OF THE GAME

  THE HISTORY OF A TAX LOOPHOLE--AND HOW IT GOT PLUGGED.

  February 14, 1996

• OFF LIMITS

  February 7, 1996

• LETTERS

  January 31, 1996

• A SWEET DEAL

  NEED A TAX BREAK FOR THE NEW YEAR? CONSIDER RAISING BEES, DONKEYS, HAY OR, AS A LAST RESORT, A STINK WITH THE COUNTY ASSESSOR.TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE? FOR A SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPER SEEKING A TAX BREAK, THAT'S NO QUESTION. BUT TAXPAYERS GET STUNG.

  January 3, 1996

• BOWLEN FOR DOLLARS

  DENVER'S FAVORITE CANADIAN MILLIONAIRE WANTS A STADIUM SUBSIDY. HERE'S WHAT HE WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT IT.BRONCO BULLY PAT BOWLEN PLAYS SMASH-MOUTH POLITICS IN HIS QUEST FOR A NEW STADIUM.

  December 20, 1995

• SHADOW OF A DOUBT

  THE DEFECTION OF PHILIP ANSCHUTZ IS JUST THE LATEST RED FLAG IN THE PEPSI CENTER DEAL.

  October 4, 1995

• LET US PAY

  August 30, 1995

• OFF LIMITS

  August 16, 1995

• WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

  June 14, 1995

• GIVE ME A BREAK

  May 31, 1995

• RISKY BUSINESS

  THE CITY LOANS $270,000 TO A BUSINESSMAN WHO PILED UP DELINQUENT DEBT.

  November 23, 1994

• IT'S 11 P.M. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FUNDING IS?

  DENVER PLAYS THE SAFE CITY SHUFFLE.

  September 14, 1994

• UNECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

  DID A SQUABBLE WITH COLORADO SPRINGS COST FORT COLLINS $300 MILLION?

  September 7, 1994

• MOUTHING OFF

  April 6, 1994

• Get wet with the Denver Squirt Gun Association

  I'm pretty sure when DARPA was inventing the Internet back in the late '60s, organizing squirt gun fights and documenting them via tools such as YouTube and blogs were exactly what they had in mind (well, that and porn). Now Denver residents can fully reap the fruits of what DARPA sowed so long ago, as the Denver Squirt Gun Association is heading into its second year of operation -- full-speed ahead, damn the (water-balloon) torpedoes, and recording the whole thing for future generations to en

  June 19, 2009

• Colorado's new Medicaid funding plan will leave disabled adults on the outside

  August 20, 2009

• John Hickenlooper's budget-cut pitch

  John Hickenlooper.​The first specific cut listed by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in a letter to the citizens of the city about his budget-cut proposal involves reducing the programming on Denver's Channel 8 to "public-meeting coverage and select programming." The latter apparently includes a newly posted video of Hickenlooper himself trying to personalize the hefty slashes, which include reducing hours at libraries (as well as closing and selling the Byers branch), potentially privatizin

  September 16, 2009

• Hickenlooper finds more library funding -- by taking a chunk out of his homeless plan

  Jeanne Faatz.​Moments from now, Mayor John Hickenlooper will be meeting with the media to talk about a revision in his budget plan -- additional bucks to save the Byers library , which had been marked for closure, and keep other branches open for longer hours. And where is he getting the dough? Well, over a million is coming from homeless program funding that he announced mere weeks ago. Back then, City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz was among the few politicos willing to oppose this feel-good

  October 14, 2009

• Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario: Gov. Ritter's Colorado cash coupons

  Every week it seems like another $300 million must be slashed from the state budget. Even if there is no money left to pay for the 2009 state income tax refunds next year, Governor Ritter should plan to send out one "Colorado Cash" coupon for every $100 worth of state income tax owed by the state. What a helpful reminder to take advantage of all the services that our income taxes make possible! ​ Check out more deals below:

  November 5, 2009

• Abortion rights a hill Diana DeGette's willing to die on in healthcare debate

  Will Nancy Pelosi get so mad at Diana DeGette that she actually blinks?​Just because the House of Representatives passed a healthcare bill this weekend doesn't mean it'll stay passed. Denver congresswoman Diana DeGette is leading a group of reproductive-rights supporters who are mad as hell that the version of the legislation okayed on Saturday contains an amendment co-authored by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak that builds on the barriers already in place (most notably the 1976 Hyde Amendme

  November 10, 2009

• Attorney General John Suthers has to admit: Medical marijuana can be taxed

  "When I said, 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it,' I didn't mean it like that!"​Attorney General John Suthers has been the high-ranking state official most likely to imply that the sky is falling in relation to medical marijuana. No wonder he cheered a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in the Stacy Clendenin case that aimed to tighten up the description of caregiver -- one that was tossed in Denver District Court when the Board of Health tried to adopt it too hurriedly. Betcha it pained h

  November 17, 2009