New Levy Aimed at Offsetting Egg Epidemic; Giant Chicken Coop Facility Proposed
Travis Phelps
Over the past several weeks, a group of residents have been working hard to get petition signatures to put a new sales tax increase on the ballot for November.
And to date, TMC has concluded that the new ballot initiative to raise taxes once again has received a big welcome from the community.
A group of Teller residents, called The Ute Pass Poultry Society, have hit the streets working hard to get signatures on the petition drive. The group’s president, Chuck Chamber, said that the proposal came about when a group of community members put their heads together to figure out a way to end high egg prices for Teller residents. Moreover, the sales tax idea was devised due to the success of these efforts in the past, and basic political trends.
“Since the Republicans in this county seem to absolutely love voting for increasing sales taxes to go towards all different things, we said to ourselves, ‘Why not?’” Chamber said. “The small two percent increase in sales tax will enable us to create a giant chicken and egg operation that will provide eggs to all residents free of charge.”
The group needs around 10,000 signatures by June 31 in order to get the new sales tax increase initiative on the ballot. But according to Chamber, the group is already well past the halfway mark towards hitting the number of signatures required.
If the measure passes with voters this fall, the county will immediately start their community chicken and egg program. Since the county is currently constructing a new building, they plan on turning the old county offices into a giant chicken coop and egg production facility.
According to Chamber if the measure passes, it will make Teller County the first known community in the country, and possibly the world, where taxes would enable the government to provide eggs to all of their residents for free. “It was my idea and I think it was wonderful,” Chamber said. “Hopefully, we will be starting a movement across the state, country and world, and other communities will jump on board and launch similar programs.”
If the measure passes, the county will move all of their offices out into modular buildings to make room for the county’s new feathered friends. The county plans on using the extra money generated by the tax increase to purchase around 20,000 hens and 500 roosters.
And since County Commissioner Chairman Dale Willems already runs a chicken farm and egg production facility, he will be put in charge of making the Ute Pass Poultry Society’s dream become reality. “I am really excited about using my skills as a master chicken farmer to help people in the community,” Willems said. “With the egg prices skyrocketing, I think using tax dollars to offset costs for our residents is a brilliant idea. In fact, I can’t think of a better use for taxpayer dollars then to make sure everyone has eggs to eat for breakfast. This is the exact thing tax dollars are supposed to be used for.”
The leader of the Teller County Republican Party, Karen Anderson, also applauded the efforts of the Ute Pass Poultry Society. “Being Republicans, we absolutely LOVE raising taxes for good causes,” Anderson said. “We just hope our community will come together and do the right thing and vote to spend all of our hard earned money on feeding people eggs. We have raised taxes to give money to the schools and ambulances, it’s time that we pass the highest sales tax raise ever to help feed the hungry.”
The poultry society’s president said that the chicken production facility will open the door for new, big events to bring people to town. “We already have plans to launch a community-wide egg fight this summer,” Chamber said. “And then during election season we plan on putting on the first ever ‘Egg the Town’ event. People will be given three dozen eggs and encouraged to travel to their favorite local politician’s house and blast it with eggs!”
Happy April Fool’s Day!
