Sales Tax Report 2nd Quarter 2005

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="2c1e8643.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Maiandra GD" ><B>Georgetown Politics</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |  </B> <B>  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Georgetown Politics"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Maiandra GD" ><B> </B></FONT><A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Accolades"><U><B>Accolades</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id195.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Commentary"><U><B>Commentary</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Town Boards and Commissions"><U><B>Town Boards and Commissions</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Miscellaneous"><U><B>Miscellaneous</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Warm Fuzzy Thoughts"><U><B>Warm & Fuzzy Thoughts</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donate"><U><B>Donate</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Muckrakers Unite"><U><B>Muckrakers Unite</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Comcast"><U><B>Contact Comcast</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000"> <div>                                                   </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> What a year to be a gas station or a non-store in Georgetown!!!!  And a terrible year to be a restaurant or tourist related enterprise! </div> <bR> <div> Here are the tallys as they differ from last year's 2nd quarter gross sales:</div> <bR> <div> Manufacturing is down $20,000</div> <div> Furniture up $13,000</div> <div> Food Services down $45,000</div> <div> Food & Bev down $10,000</div> <div> Gas station sales (including merchandise) up $778,000</div> <div> Clothing up 65,000 (late filing included)</div> <div> Sports/Hobby/Gen. Merchandise down $6,000</div> <div> Misc. Stores down $17,000</div> <div> Non-Store up $81,000</div> <div> Information up $28,000</div> <div> Finance/Insurance up $45,000 (late filing included)</div> <div> Lodging up $60,000 (late filing included)</div> <bR> <div> These figures along with the 50% decline in passenger ridership on the Loop, incessant complaints from those passengers and the millions spent by our state to fix something that was not broken prove the inevitable:</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Colorado Historical Society takeover and promised seamless transition of the Georgetown Loop is an undeniable  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>FAILURE</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Will that stop the CHS  from continuing to behave in such reckless ways with State funds? We doubt it. Only the governor has the ability to do anything about  this state organization's expenditures of their seemingly bottomless pit of money. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The State Department of Higher Education has so-called oversight of the Colorado Historical Society, but no real "teeth" to do anything about what they do.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Even a comprehensive report on their granting habits and an audit report that substantiated those allegations could not stop the Colorado Historical Society.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If one of our school districts spent $175,000.00 on a 1990 pickup truck, you can bet that there would be a head or two rolling.  But when the CHS does this, no one seems to bat an eye. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What does this mean for other state historical sites around our state? How can we trust these same people to spend ANY amount of money in the best interests of our state's citizens and the precious historical resources of our state? What kind of effect will spending millions on this project have on other historical projects desperate for funds? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It's not as though the governor didn't know of this travesty. We, as well as hundreds of others sent emails and letters on the overtaking of the Georgetown Loop to the governor. Very few received a response. No, it appears as though our governor is more interested in spending his time to figure out how to get citizens of Colorado a 4 billion dollar reprieve from their money to offset the 30% increase in the size of our state government since his appointment.  </B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>