Monday, February 8, 2010

Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many

how did this happen?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14303473


2 comments:

jane said...

That's insane. Especially this, "Voters in November said an emphatic no to a tripling of property tax that would have restored $27.6 million to the city's $212 million general fund budget. Fowler and many other residents say voters don't trust city government to wisely spend a general tax increase and don't believe the current cuts are the only way to balance a budget."

Don't believe the current cuts are the only way to balance the budget? Things must be pretty desperate if they're cutting those services, where else can they "trim the fat"? Could it be that the city is cutting the high profile things first in order to get taxpayers to vote in a property tax next? Hm...

I just wonder about the property/income tax levels and if there have been lots of cuts in LGA in Colorado. If the Mayor is looking primarily at the Sales Tax then they may have based their revenue on an especially fickle stream, given the economy.

There was a campaign in MN to go against Governor Pawlenty's "no new taxes" that actually got a lot of traction in the Twin Cities. It was called, "Willing to Pay for a Better Minnesota" I like the idea of that.

Stephen said...

A few things:

Voters in November said an emphatic no to a tripling of property tax that would have restored $27.6 million to the city's $212 million general fund budget.

An easy first reaction was that they're getting what they deserve. It was my first reaction, for sure, especially considering what a famous right-wing hotbed CO Springs is. But it's important to point out that there's a massive underclass in CO Springs (mostly Latino) that I'm assuming is more adversely affected by these cuts.

I should also mention that in addition to a huge defense industry presence there (Boeing, Lockheed, and ITT have huge facilities), there's also a large air force base (where the USAFA is located). This is about as recession-proof as it comes. If their revenue streams are messy enough to justify such massive cuts, I'm going to assume more is going on than a simple drop in tax revenue. I'm recalling the businessweek Detroit story I read recently:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_48/b4157034230199.htm