Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade presented a balanced $428.3 million budget to the city council, but noted there are necessary cuts and a $10 million dollar withdrawal that needs to be made to keep the city in the black.
In a press conference, the mayor spoke to the highlights of his budget which focuses on public safety, school zones and continuing capital improvements.
But there are also cuts. With revenue falling flat heading into the 2024 budget, the mayor is asking each city department to decide how to cut 3.4% of its spending, which could result in hiring freezes.
"These are difficult decisions. All options for balancing the budget were explored to minimize the impact of these reductions to our level of service to our community and to our departments," Mobolade said.
After News 5 aired a story about how the city had not installed any new school zones since a 17-year-old girl was hit and killed outside Doherty High School last spring, Mayor Mobolade told us he'd make funding school zones a priority. The mayor is delivering on that promise, adding it to his budget.
However, the money to fund new school zones is coming from residents' pockets. The mayor is proposing increasing the fee drivers pay when they get a ticket for a moving violation from $20 to more than $30 which would generate 250,000 overtime to put new school zones in at middle and high schools.
The city will also cap its 2024 property tax rate, which Mobolade says will provide relief to residents from increased property taxes.
"It will effectively reduce the mill levy that's applied to the value of the home and result in a lower amount of property tax being owed to the city," said Charae McDaniel, chief financial director for Colorado Springs.
See more line items the mayor's office highlighted in handing the budget to the council, including $8.7 million for salary increases for civilian and police and fire sworn employees; step and market increases for police and fire sworn, and pay for performance for civilian employees.
Other line items include:
- $7.5 million for full-year funding for the portion of compensation and positions that were phased in during 2023, increased costs for Police and Fire sworn pensions, and for increased medical plan costs; net of decreases to worker’s comp and life insurance costs that have no impact on benefit to employees.
- Elevation of Housing and Community Vitality to a stand-alone department, along with the appointment of a Chief Housing Officer.
- $2.2 million of increased funding for insourcing fleet maintenance to increase the level of service and reduce turnaround times.
- $1.9 million of matched funding to leverage $15.4 million for critical infrastructure and transportation-related capital projects.
- $1 million of increased funding for Information Technology for updating backup technology at the Data Center and establishing a new Disaster Recovery location that will protect the City’s ability to continue to provide services in the event of extreme weather events, a cybersecurity attack or other disaster.
- $1.3 million of continued funding for the City’s Americans with Disabilities Act operating and capital projects to maintain and improve accessibility.
- $500,000 increased funding to address Information Technology core infrastructure, applications, and cybersecurity.
- $2.0 million to fund increased rates for insurance premiums, fuel, and utilities, as well as contractual increases, including animal law enforcement services.
- Increased funding of $230,000 in Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services to provide 1.5 positions to provide school programming at Rock Ledge Ranch, additional patrols at Catamount Reservoir during its closure, and additional seasonal staffing at Sertich Ice Center. These costs are directly offset by increased revenue.
- Increase of $52,100 for additional services and facility maintenance at Deerfield and Hillside Community Centers (offset by increased revenue).
- Increased funding of $1.3 million in Public Works to provide two positions for traffic signal maintenance, a result of an intergovernmental agreement with El Paso County, and for six positions related to traffic control and work in the rights-of-way for telecommunications projects. Each of these positions is directly offset by increased revenue.
- $170,000 of additional funding to Mountain Metro Transit for increased contract costs to sustain transit services, and $180,000 increased funding for security at the Downtown Transit Center.
When asked for an initial reaction to pulling $10 million from the city's rainy day fund, chair of the budget committee, Randy Helms (R-District 2) said that's why the money is supposed to be used.
"It's actually because we've had really large reserves over the last several years. The 10 million is still going to keep us above the average of 17 percent which is recommended," Helms said. "I have no issues. Matter of fact, I want that to be used."
The Government Finance Officers Association recommends that cities keep their unrestricted fund balance above 16.7 percent.
The city council plans to hold meetings on the budget this month with a plan to approve the budget at the end of November.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
