All Entries in the "Consumer Issues" Category
June 2024 Sales and Use Tax Report for City of Lamar
The City of Lamar’s most recent Revenue Report includes June Sales and Use Tax collected in July, 2024. City sales tax collected (3%) is up $20,211.74, an increase of 4.67% for the same month in 2023. Use tax collected is also up $2,494.68, an increase of 5.13% over 2023. Other collections, which include penalties and […]
Cost of Living is Coloradans’ biggest concern
The Colorado Health Foundation’s annual Pulse Poll this year finds Coloradans believe they face a number of significant challenges — beyond rising cost-of-living concerns — that include drug overdoses, immigration and natural disasters. Still, the single most concern for nearly nine out of 10 respondents was the growing burden of household expenses. Affordability worries, shared […]
Signatures submitted to add Colorado property tax initiative to November ballot
Proposition 108, the Citizens’ Tax Cut, looks to reduce assessment rates for property owners A ballot initiative to reduce property tax assessment rates has received enough signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot, its sponsors announced Tuesday. Proposition 108, also known as the Citizens’ Tax Cut, has submitted nearly 200,000 signatures to the Secretary […]
Colorado voter-approved “Healthy Meals for All” facing out-of-control costs
Photo by USDA When Colorado voters approved “Healthy School Meals for All” two years ago, organizers behind the ballot initiative estimated the program would cost $115 million in its first year. The actual costs significantly exceeded that — $166 million — leaving state lawmakers scrambling with the financial fallout. “I don’t know why the costs […]
April Sales & Use Tax collected in May, 2024
The 2024 total Sales & Use Tax collected for April was $468,022.33, an increase of $63,664.77 over 2023’s $404,357.56 (15.74%). Year to date, total Sales & Use Tax collections are up 9.68%, or $208,837.80 over last year. The 2023 total TYD number was $2,157,281.92, compared to this year’s total of $2,336,119.73. Sales/Use Tax Revenue comparison […]
ARPA June 2024 summary of business operations
BUSINESS OPERATIONS – June 2024 Seven Students Receive Scholarship Funding from ARPA and its Member Municipalities: In 2000, ARPA and its Member communities established a College Scholarship Program that awards a $1,400 scholarship to one high school senior in each of the high schools served by ARPA members. The Program is administered through the member municipalities […]
National Corn Growers, others file lawsuit challenging EPA’s electrical vehicle mandate
The National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation and six auto dealers representing 16 brands and collectively operating dozens of dealerships in major markets across the country joined the American Petroleum Institute today in filing a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s light-duty and medium-duty vehicle emissions standards […]
Lamar Utilities Board Meeting May 28, 2024
Minutes from the May 14 meeting were approved unanimously, as was the approval of purchase orders totaling $530,811.44 and payment of bills in the amount of $715,20.83 Board President Doug Thrall read a thank-you note sent from Carisma Gass, one of this year’s scholarship winners, in which she thanked the department for their generosity, saying […]
Cost of gas in Colorado sparks anger from Governor and consumers
The cost of gas is about to spike in Colorado. How high will it go? The EPA is forcing Colorado to switch to reformulated gas as ground-level ozone hits “severe” during the summer Keep an eye on gas prices in the next few weeks, Colorado, and you can watch a major policy battle play […]
Colorado extends takeout cocktails law for restaurants until July 2025
Colorado first allowed restaurants to sell cocktails for takeout or delivery when the pandemic hit in 2020 and businesses desperately needed relief. Then in 2021, Colorado extended the law to stay in effect until July 2025. But last week, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill terminating the deadline that would have ended the practice next […]
March Sales and Use Tax 2024 – City of Lamar
March’s sales/use tax collections were up 8.52% from the same time period in 2023. The collected 3% city tax for the month of March was $458,964.62, $45,268.98 more than in 2023. Use tax collected was $32,356.98, $10,103.37 less than in 2023. Other collections (penalties and interest, licenses, A/Rs) was $497,490.89, $39,042.65 more than in 2023. […]
Colorado Employment Situation – April 2024
Household survey data According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was flat from March to April at 3.7 percent. The number of unemployed individuals grew by 1,900 over the same time period to 120,100. The national unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.9 percent from March to April. Colorado’s labor force increased by 1,500 […]
Lamar City Council meeting of May 13, 2024
Lamar City Council met May 13, 2024 for a regularly-scheduled meeting. City Treasurer Kristin Schwartz presented the 1st quarter financial report. She then spoke to Council about the NUE grant and how it is being used. The overall grant was $1,924,082.37. So far, $69,813.87 has been spent for SECED and $90,000 committed for the Ark […]
Colorado owes residents $67M in tax refunds
The state owes Colorado residents $67 million in tax refunds that should have been paid out years earlier, a costly mistake lawmakers are now working to fix, having discovered the problem after the governor has already signed the next fiscal year’s spending plan. Lawmakers said they only learned about the problem a few days ago and […]
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services releases 2022 Census of Agriculture
On March 27, the NASS released state and county profiles from the 2022 census Some of the key conclusions are below. Farm and ranch numbers shrunk while their sizes grew. Overall, the number of farms and ranches in Colorado decreased to 36,056 in 2022, down from 38,893 in 2017 (7.3%), while the average size […]
