The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Phillips County voters should have received ballots in their mail boxes last week for the general, Nov. 2 election. According to Phillips County Clerk and Recorder, ballots were mailed between Friday, Oct. 8 and Friday, Oct. 15.

Locally, registered voters in Haxtun will decide on a number of issues including two ballot questions for the Town of Haxtun and one for the Haxtun School District.

The Town of Haxtun is asking voters to approve a $1.9 million street project in this year’s election. If approved, plans are to pave approximately 42 blocks of streets next year. The project would be partially funded with the current one-percent sales tax already in place with no increase in taxes to taxpayers.

The Town of Haxtun has also applied for a grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation Main Street Revitalization program. Those grant funds would allow for paving Colorado Avenue from Strohm Street at the Haxtun Fire Hall north to Haxtun Schools, including the grade school parking lot. That portion of the project is projected to cost $433,000 of the project.

On the November ballot, Haxtun citizens will be asked two questions:

• Should the Town of Haxtun incur debt of $1.5 million for a major street project payable from its existing one percent sales tax? and

• Could the Town of Haxtun use the half a percent sales tax already in place for Community Center maintenance for additional street repairs for five years? After five years, the one and a half percent would be allocated back to the Community Center fund.

Additionally, voters within the lines of the Haxtun School District will be asked to choose three of six candidates to fill vacancies on the local Board of Education.

The six candidates vying for three open slots, include incumbents Audree Edwards and Jay Wisdom as well as Cole Fix, ChristiAnne Gibson, Dean Michael and Spencer Holcomb. A candidate Meet and Greet event is slated for Friday, Oct. 22 from 4-6 p.m. at the Haxtun Community Center.

Additional information can on each school board candidate can be found in the pages of this week’s Herald.

Other ballot questions include State Measures Amendment 78, Custodial Fund Appropriations Initiative; Proposition 119, Creation of Out-of-School Education Program and Marijuana Sales Tax Increase Initiative; and Proposition 120, Reduce Property Tax Rates and Retain $25 Million in TABOR Surplus Revenue Initiative.

The Town of Haxtun has an official drop box located just outside of Town Hall, 145 South Colorado Avenue. Ballots may be placed in the box 24 hours a day, seven days a week until end of election day at 7 p.m. Postage is not necessary.

Ballots may also be returned by:

• Mail to the Phillips County Clerk and Recorder, 221 S. Interocean Ave., Holyoke, with proper postage;

• Drop off box located at the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 30 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Election Day, Nov. 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.;

• 24-hour drive-up drop box located across the street from the Phillips County Courthouse east parking lot 221 S. Interocean Ave., Holyoke.

All voted ballots must be received by the Clerk and Recorder by 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021.

If you do not receive a ballot by Oct. 20 you may not be an active voter or you may have moved since the last election. The last day for an individual to submit a voter registration application through the online voter registration system, mail, voter registration agency or local driver’s license examination facility and receive the ballot via mail is Monday, Oct. 25.

For more information or to register and receive a mail-in ballot, call the Phillips County Clerk’s Office at (970) 854-3131.