From a resident with a question. Thanks for sharing!
According to the Jefferson County website: https://www.jeffco.us/4887/Federal-Impact-Updates
“In 2023 the county [Jefferson] received about $105 million in federal revenue from approximately 130 different awards. The county relies on these federal dollars to provide a broad range of critical services such as food assistance, early childhood education, highway safety, crime victim assistance, employment services, child support, medical assistance, emergency management, and preventative health services. Additionally, in 2023 we administered about $110 million in direct federal assistance to our community. Once our 2024 audit is complete, we will have more recent numbers.”
Question: Why are Jeffco County Commissioners risking the loss of $215 million dollars in essential federal funds to openly defy federal law by not cooperating with federal immigration law and an Executive Order to eliminate DEI offices?
County answer: “We will continue to provide essential services and resources to our community and are in the process of identifying strategies to do that in the event that we lose funding.”
In other words, RAISE OUR TAXES AGAIN.
Voters in Jefferson County were not allowed to vote on implementing DEI in the County nor could we vote on defying federal immigration law for the County to protect illegal immigrants nor vote on defying the DEI Executive Order. These decisions are the sole responsibility of the County Commissioners and their handlers.
Please share any answers you hear from the county as to whether they will comply with federal direction in order to receive federal money.
City Council Members Jacob Labure and Paula Nystrom asked for equal representation on the Budget and Audit Board, January 27, 2025. They were denied. Only three wards will be represented on the Board.
The Budget and Audit Board is vitally important for accountability. Many policies and programs that staff originate are never disclosed to the public. They only show up in funding requests. And as evidenced by the 2024 vote to de-TABOR, city staff is not often turned down.
Councilor LaBure was involved in the last rewrite of the Budget Board. LaBure fought hard to get each ward representation on the Board, saying it was common practice to not only have five Councilors on the Board but to allow any Council Member to come and make comments.
Now the current Board doesn’t even allow comments.
Councilors Shahrezaei and Mayott-Guerrero both said that allowing that many Councilors, as worked for years, would now be unmanageable. Shahrezaei pointed out that at one point, a single councilor made 37 questions to staff and that amount of work was too hard.
There is no general rule for how many questions the paid city staff should answer as part of being publicly accountable for a multi-million-dollar budget.
In 2024, when Mayor Strom downsized committee sizes, then-Councilor Rich Olver was upset to be removed. Strom explained that she thought she was doing him a favor because he often didn’t have time. Olver was not present at the meeting for the initial appointments to protest. But his argument resonated with Councilor Dave Rein who supported increasing representation.
Councilor Low also supported the proposal saying, “Budget is one of the most important things we do. Ward 3 should have representation.”
2025 Council Members on the Budget Board are:
- Jeslin Shahrezaei, Ward 1
- Isabel Cruz, Ward 2
- Dave Rein, Ward 4
Scorecard: Allow Equal Representation
Strom: Nay
Shahrezaei: Nay
Sinks: Nay
Mayott-Guerrero: Nay
Cruz: Nay
Low: Aye
Rein: Aye
LaBure: Aye
Nystrom: Aye