Coming back for more Chicken
To the editor,
As two people who are involved in the Chicken Creek Cross-Country Ski Area, we wish to blow a big “thank you” kiss to the Telegraph. Your cover photo and two-page spread was a delightful surprise. This past weekend saw a full parking lot both days, largely attributable to your coverage. We want to let your readers know we do maintain a blog with updated condition reports at chick sencreeknordic.blogspot.com.
Your page three column on skinny skis and fat bikes was also right on target. We are a seat-of-the-pants organization – all volunteer labor and donation funded – in a perpetual headlong race for financial solvency. It is always a challenge to maintain a nicely groomed track for skiers, and that is currently our mission. The addition of hikers and fat bikes would overtax our very limited resources. So we thank you for clarifying the USFS stance on the issues.
Additionally, we would like your readers to understand snowshoers are welcome but we ask them to stay to the extreme edge of the groomed track, or preferably, stay off the track altogether. Dogs are welcome on the lower two loops only (the Bauer Loops), and please control your dog. Spatulas are available at the trailhead for the “pooch-poo fling.” Kindly use them.
It was great to see all the smiling fresh faces up there this weekend, and we hope y’all will come back for multiple servings of the Chicken. And for those of you who enjoyed your visit and would like to stave off our plunge toward bankruptcy, feel free to follow the Telegraph’s brilliant advice to drop a $10 or $20 bill in the donation box. Checks may also be sent to Chicken Creek Nordic, P.O. Box 111, Mancos CO 81328. See you on the trail.
– Joan and Peter Brind’Amour, Mancos
New ways to pay property taxes
To the editor,
Last November, the citizens of La Plata County were asked to vote for or against a mill levy increase. The levy lost by a few hundred votes. People I talked with had a number of questions about it, but there was one which hit home with me: “So, what are YOU doing to reduce unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars?”
As the county treasurer, my primary concern is: how much does it cost to collect taxes due and make these funds available to provide services for citizens? Bankers, Wall Street analysts and shareholders have long been interested in reducing expenses for these types of transactional costs. That being the case, there are ways to measure and minimize the cost of collecting money.
How much does it cost La Plata County to process a property tax check? About $6 per check. That is, if everything is correct: the check is dated prior to receipt (i.e. no post-dated checks), the check is signed, the check is written out in long hand (in banking terminology this is the “legal signature”), and the amount matches what our tax software says the taxpayer is supposed to pay (no partial payments). What happens if any of these things are wrong? Well, then we have to send it back to you with an explanation as to what needs to be corrected. Then you send it back to us. Now let’s add a bunch of days to allow for the U.S. Postal Service to send your checks to and from Albuquerque a number of times! You get the picture; this is a lengthy, costly process – about $20 - $30 per incorrect check. And it doesn’t feel like good customer service either.
What’s a county treasurer to do? Change the process! This year we have multiple new ways of processing tax payments – all of which cost far less money and save La Plata County in unnecessary spending. But all require you to participate and provide your tax payment to La Plata County in a different way. Here are the best ways, in order of cost reduction. Please remember that your account number (or “reference number”) must be included in all of these methods to ensure your payment is credited accurately.
- Pay by e-check at La Plata County’s website: www.co.laplata.co.us/departments_officials/treasurer. This is the cheapest way to pay! You save the cost of an envelope and a stamp. It will cost you only $0.18 (eighteen cents) for this convenience. From the taxpayers’ perspective, this is a savings of $5.82 per check!
- Pay by credit card via the County’s website. There is a 2.19 percent convenience fee the credit card company takes. But this is lower than last year’s fee of 2.5 percent.
- Send tax payments directly to the County’s bank (listed on your tax statement) for automated processing. Many other counties in Colorado already do this. This is similar to sending in your monthly credit card payment. The cost of this process is about $1 per check, saving the County $5 per transaction. And you have the added satisfaction of knowing that your check has cleared the bank the same day it was received.
So with 42,000 tax bills going out in late January, what would be the savings if everyone paid by e-check? Approximately $250,000. And what would be the savings if everyone mailed their checks to the bank’s P.O. box? Approximately $210,000. There are some other items that cause these figures not to be completely accurate – but you get the idea.
By the way, this 42,000 number does not include tax bills to oil and gas properties. We send those out using a high-tech solution: email and Excel spreadsheets, further reducing transaction costs. We hope to do more of this in coming years.
Here are important dates to remember: If you pay your taxes in half payments, the deadlines are Feb. 29 and June 15 this year. If you pay your taxes in one lump sum, the deadline is May 2. If you have a mortgage, generally your mortgage company pays the property tax for you – but you will receive a tax statement for your records.
Here is my call to action for you: Please help us to reduce unnecessary government spending on the manual processing of checks by paying by e-check, credit card or sending your tax payment directly to our bank, at the P.O. box listed on your tax statement.
– Allison Morrissey, La Plata County Treasurer
Meat industry – 9; consumers – 0
To the editor,
The “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” recently released by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services mark the ninth time in a row that the meat industry has successfully suppressed scientific findings recommending reduced meat consumption. The reduction was recommended by the government-appointed Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in a 571-page report based on review of thousands of studies.
Reduced meat consumption was first recommended in 1977 by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs in “Dietary Goals for the United States,” a precursor to the Dietary Guidelines. The meat industry forced the Committee to destroy all copies of the report and to remove the offending recommendation from a new edition.
That wanton government sell-out to the meat industry has replayed itself with every new edition of the Dietary Guidelines since then. “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” shape school lunches and other government food support programs and underlie public health campaigns to lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Fortunately, American consumers are not easily duped. Sales of plant-based meats, cheeses, milks, and ice creams have skyrocketed, and every grocery store provides seemingly countless choices of fruits and vegetables.
– Diego Horvath, Durango