Public Hearing Scheduled On Fort Morgan Utility Rates

There's a public hearing coming up on Tuesday, November 15th to discuss Fort Morgan's utility rates. City Clerk John Brennan says Fort Morgan's gas and electricity rates haven't been adjusted since 2008. Brennan says the city's utility company operates as a non-profit and since natural gas is half price of what it was four years ago -- customer's rates should reflect the savings...






TAG: The hearing begins at 7 pm inside Fort Morgan City Hall on Main Street. Brennan says the City Council also wants to restructure utility rates based on usage rather than market price.

CITY UTILITY BILLS MAY CONTAIN ERRORS

Customers urged to call billing office with questions
A printing error on this month’s Fort Morgan utility bills may be causing confusion among some city utility customers. Because of the printing glitch, some customers may not have received their bills, while others may have received multiple copies of their bill. In addition, the bills may contain an incorrect payment due date of Oct. 28. The due date for all utility bills is the 10th of the month, so the bills sent out this week must be paid by Nov. 10. The due date will still apply even if customers did not receive a bill. If any city utility customers have not received their monthly bills yet, they should contact the City’s Utility Billing Department at 867-4350 to verify the amount due and the due
date of November 10, 2011. Any customers who received multiple bills only need to pay one bill.
For more information or answers to any other utility billing questions, please call 867-4350.

Utility Rate Public Hearing Next Tuesday

There's a public hearing next Tuesday, November 15 at 7 p.m. at Fort Morgan City Hall to talk about utility rates. If you're a city utility customer, you or your attorney can come to the meeting to tell city officials what you think of the new utility rate schedule for gas and electric service.

Another Inch of Snow Today in Fort Morgan

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for Morgan County for last night and today. Snowfall overnight in Morgan County was expected to be between four and eight inches, and with the winds, blowing and drifting was possible overnight and expected to continue today. NWS says snow and areas of blowing snow before noon. Steady temperature around 31. Blustery, with a north northwest wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 6 and 9 mph. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

The Vote in Logan County: Two Pass, One Fails

About 42 percent of those of us who could vote in yesterday's election, did, and while the results won't be official for a few days, we voted on two tax issues. Numbers from the Logan County Clerk's office show that we voted to refund the fixed-route bus service in Sterling by voting to renew the .1 percent sales tax. The margin was more than two to one in favor. We also voted for the city-wide five percent hotel tax, but by a closer margin: only 150 votes separated those for and those against. And then Proposition 103, the statewide question to fund education in Colorado failed here, as it did across the state. The vote in Logan County was nearly 70 percent against and 30 percent for the increase in sales and income taxes for four years.

CASA of the Plains Closes Thursday

We told you last week that CASA of the Plains would close this week, and now we know that November 4 is the last day for the Court Appointed Special Advocate program that serves the 13th Judicial District. Its been eight years that abused and neglected children have had the advantage of trained volunteers to speak for them in court. In that time, some 65 children have been served. CASA of the Plains tried to get a grant from National CASA to stay open, but without sufficient funding from the community, the grant request was turned down.

Frontier Cancels Some Early-Morning Flights

(Denver, CO) -- Frontier Airlines is canceling ten early-morning flights, in anticipation of potential blizzard conditions. Cancellations include four flights to or from Colorado Springs. Airline officials expect that all passengers on the canceled flights will be rebooked on other Frontier flights today.

Hickenlooper proposes more cuts for Colo. schools

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he doesn't see any way to get around more cuts to education.

The Democratic governor's budget proposal reduces funding for K-12 education next year by $89 million and about $60 million for public colleges.

The spending plan also sets up a showdown with Republicans over delaying a property tax break for seniors.

The governor's office said the cuts are needed mainly because of mandatory spending on Medicaid.

Overall, Hickenlooper is proposing about $679 million in cuts to balance the $7.4 billion general fund budget. His plan includes delaying a $98.6 million voter-approved tax break for seniors scheduled to be reinstated this year.

Republicans already have said they would not support postponing the tax break.

Lawmakers have suspended it in the past to balance the budget.

Hickenlooper proposes more cuts for Colo. schools

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he doesn't see any way to get around more cuts to education.

The Democratic governor's budget proposal reduces funding for K-12 education next year by $89 million and about $60 million for public colleges.

The spending plan also sets up a showdown with Republicans over delaying a property tax break for seniors.

The governor's office said the cuts are needed mainly because of mandatory spending on Medicaid.

Overall, Hickenlooper is proposing about $679 million in cuts to balance the $7.4 billion general fund budget. His plan includes delaying a $98.6 million voter-approved tax break for seniors scheduled to be reinstated this year.

Republicans already have said they would not support postponing the tax break.

Lawmakers have suspended it in the past to balance the budget.

Colorado rejects higher sales, income taxes

DENVER (AP) — Colorado voters have overwhelmingly rejected a plan to raise state income and sales taxes for five years to revive schools decimated by years of budget cuts.

The measure would have sent an estimated $2.9 billion to K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. It was the nation's only statewide tax measure on ballots this year, and Colorado's vote indicates voters may not be willing to consider higher taxes, despite deep budget cuts to high-priority services like schools.

With 49 percent of the projected vote counted, Proposition 103 was trailing 65-35 percent.

The measure would have raised individual and corporate tax rates from 4.63 percent to 5 percent. Colorado's sales and use tax rate would have gone from 2.9 percent to 3 percent. The rates would have been in effect from 2012 through 2016.

Earlier this year, Colorado lawmakers cut K-12 schools' funding by more than $200 million, to $2.8 billion.

Colorado storm could bring blizzard conditions

DENVER (AP) — Another snowstorm is bringing strong winds and frigid temperatures to parts of Colorado.

The National Weather Service said gusts up to 40 mph could create blizzard conditions on the plains southeast of Denver and into northern El Paso County into Wednesday. Forecasters say travel could become impossible in parts of Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, including along Interstate 70.

Wind chill readings could drop to near 10 degrees.

Independence Pass between Aspen and Leadville closed Tuesday because of an expected 6 to 9 inches there.

In Denver, officials planned to distribute motel vouchers if homeless shelters filled up. Snow started falling south of Denver on Tuesday night.

A snowstorm last week dumped up to 18 inches of snow on parts of the state, damaging trees and power lines.