08/08/09:  It has been nearly 4 months since taking office.  What a time this has been.  We have been faced with several challenges recently. 

Budget:  First, and foremost, will be the 2010 budget.  When I was last on, the 2007 budget was $242 million.  The 2009 is $228 million and the 2010 is projected to be about $205 million.  This has been caused by our over dependence on sales tax (about 54% of revenue) and the bad economy.  We are required to have a balanced budget so this has meant laying off employees, combining departments, and cutting all services except public safety.  If 2010 goes as projected, more cuts are on the way including a cut in public safety.  It won’t be pretty.

USOC:  In 2008, the city and many civic leaders put together a plan to ensure the US Olympic Committee would keep its headquarters in Colorado Springs for at least 25 years.  They needed new and expanded office space and want to move out of its facilities at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) to make room for much needed athlete housing.  In addition, some of the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) also needed to move out of the OTC location.  The USOC and city sought proposals from developers and the USOC (not the city or mayor), selected the downtown office building owned by LandCo.  An Economic Development Agreement (EDA) was put together which spelled out the responsibilities of the three parties:  LandCo, USOC, and city.  Our part was to buy 5 floors of the LandCo building and lease them to the USOC.  I won’t go into all the problems that happened, mostly because of the downturn in the economy, but the deal fell apart.  LandCo sued the city and USOC and the EDA was cancelled.  Over the last few months all parties, their attorneys, the Federal court, and staffs hammered out a new EDA and a lawsuit settlement agreement.  All the documents were made public on July 30, 2009 and city council held a public hearing on the new deal on August 6^th.  On August 11^th, council will vote on the new deal.  Basically, LandCo will finish the Core and Shell of the USOC HQ building and step away.  The city will buy the 5 floors as planned and lease them to the USOC for 30 years (instead of 25).  A new contractor will finish the interior.  The city will provide some of the funding for the OTC improvements and will oversee the completion of the NGB building (an old Utilities gas building).  Private fund raising will help make up some of the costs.  I support keeping the USOC here for many reasons, not the least of which is the economic benefit to the city outweighs our costs.

TABOR:  There has been some talk about modifying the city’s TABOR (we are the only Colorado city to have its own TABOR).  I support the basic concept of TABOR (those paying taxes should vote on any increase).  However, the so-called “ratchet down” effect is a problem and needs to be fixed.  Our revenue is only permitted to grow based on the previous year’s level plus a growth factor.  This works well and keeps government in check when the tax base, and taxes collected, grow from year-to-year as the demand for services grows.  In the recent down years, the revenue did not grow, but the demand for services, and the cost to provide those services, did grow.  We have cut services, including essential services and quality of life services, to maintain a balanced budget.  When the economy starts growing again, we will be constrained by an artificially low previous year revenue level.  This means we will never be able to recover lost services, much less get to the level, especially in public safety, where we should be.  I do NOT support completely removing the TABOR spending limit, but I do support changing the way the cap is calculated.  I have proposed that we use the highest revenue year of the past 5 years, rather than the most immediate past year.  This does not raise taxes, but would allow the city to keep more of the taxes collected.  My reasoning is, had the budgets continued to grow at about 3 – 5% per year, we could have kept up with the increased demand for services.  While the revenues went down, the demand for services did not.  Therefore, we need to be able to get back to the level of service where we would have been if the revenue grew each year and not start over at some artificially low amount.  I will not support doing anything with TABOR in November 2009, but would rather take a slow measure approach that can perhaps get differing parties together.

Taxes:  As mentioned, our over dependence on sales tax has hurt our ability to provide needed services.  We get very little revenue from property taxes.  Council Member Martin has proposed an increase in our property tax mill levy for the November 2009 ballot.  The rate would increase by 6 mills in 2009 and 1 mill per year for the next 4 years.  This would not close the gap of where we should be, but it will stop the bleeding while we examine the recommendations of the citizen’s Funding Sustainability Committee.  We do pay, by far, the lowest per capita tax of any Front Range city and this has hurt our ability to provide services that are necessary.  I support going to the people, as provided by TABOR, and asking them to decide.  I believe this is a necessary step which will result in a modest tax increase.

Again, I am honored to be serving.  I have received many e-mails and calls from you about these topics.  While I do carefully listen and evaluate every suggestion, in the end, it is my responsibility to do what I believe is in the best interests of our city as a whole and to not try to please some faction.  I will continue to vote for what I believe our city needs.

04/21/09:  Swearing in day!  We had a wonderful ceremony and the room was packed.  My daughter, Kari, came out from California, so all three daughters were there!  That night I hosted a thank you/victory party at The Airplane Restaurant (Solo's) that was well attended.  I am truly blessed to have the honor of serving.

I got my old office back at City Hall.  It is small, but right next to the bathroom - a plus for us older folks!  It is almost all decorated.  Kari surprised me with a US flag that was flown over Naval Air Station Lemoore on election day.  My son-in-law arranged this.  It will have an important place on my council office wall.  Kari and the grandkids also made me a "Councilman Bear" from Build-A-Bear to add to my bear collection in the office.