By Lyndsie Ferrell
DEL NORTE— State Treasurer Candidate Dave Young visited the Valley last week and during his time here, stopped in Del Norte to hear about local issues and to talk about what he could do, if elected to see that more money be delegated to rural communities like those in the Valley.
“I wanted to have the chance to stop and hear some of the concerns that face rural communities like Del Norte and have a say in what I could do to help if elected as state treasurer,” stated Young.
“I recently announced my campaign for Colorado state treasurer. As a Greeley resident and teacher, I know the challenges Colorado families face. Our state is growing rapidly. But not everyone is sharing in our state’s prosperity. Places like Greeley and rural Colorado where I come from continue to struggle. I am running for treasurer because I believe we need to put Colorado on better financial footing, where prosperity from our growth is shared,” stated Young.
According to his bio, “As a Colorado native, I can tell you Coloradans are tired of partisan gridlock, and most of us know neither party has a monopoly on good ideas. I am proud of my record of working across the aisle to reach a consensus, and always putting the state of Colorado ahead of party or ideology.
Teaching junior high for 23 years in Greeley is only part of my life-long career in education. As just about anyone can tell you, teaching 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds, requires a person to develop patience and commonsense, and those are values I bring to the job of getting Colorado back on the right track.
Although originally, I was a math teacher, with additional training, I took on additional roles teaching technology and websites and was fortunate to see some of my students use the skills I taught to start businesses of their own. Some of them were making more money on the side while still in high school than I made as a full-time teacher! I also saw that additional training open new avenues in my own career, so I have experienced first-hand how much opportunity there can be if we are investing well in education.”
Young spoke about topics directly related to small communities like Del Norte. Addressing issues that face the schools in rural communities and retirement pensions that should be protected for emergency personnel like EMTs and other government community service employees. “I know first hand the struggles that face our educational system. I have looked at the negative factor and I think there is a way to help reduce it and get more funding for our schools. I may not have the power to change everything once in office, but I will speak on behalf of the schools in communities like Del Norte,” stated Young.
Another topic that was discussed addressed unclaimed property that is held in the state treasurer’s office. “Something very few Coloradoans know about is the Great Colorado Payback. It is a program that is offered to any Colorado resident that may have unclaimed property that was returned to the state. People can go to the website, fill out the information and see if they have anything that was returned to the treasurer’s office. I looked myself up and found a life insurance policy that was supposed to be paid but never was and was able to reclaim the money,” explained Young.
Young stated that if elected, he would revise the program and make it more user-friendly as well as more accessible to Colorado residents. “The process right now is kind of hard to get through and I want to make it so that more people not only know about it but can use it to retrieve money that is owed to them,” said Young.
Young is running against Brian Watson in November. “I have really enjoyed this race, no matter the outcome. There are issues that need to be addressed by looking at the big picture. You can see the forest through the trees as long as you widen your view.”
For more information on Young, please visit www.daveyoungforcolorado.com or to inquire about unclaimed property in the state treasurer’s office, please visit www.greatcoloradopayback.com.