BUDGET CRISIS 1

Colorado Springs and Budget Crisis

Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Colorado Springs and Budget Crisis

Colorado Springs faced severe problems due to some of its failures in the budget and the

budget process. With a reduction in the budget, Springs yearned to save money by cutting down

on the services. For instance, electricity costs were saved by turning off about 33% of the

streetlights in the city. Sharp slashes in the budgets severely impacted the parks department. In

contrast to a budget of $17 million in 2009, parks of the city were down to just $3 million in

2010. Not only the restroom facilities and pools were shut down, but the garbage cans were also

removed from the parks.

Three museums and four community centers of the Springs only kept running through

public funds and private donations the entire year. Government also withdrew the parks’

maintenance budget. Situation grew so worse that most of the city’s parks withered in the heat of

the summer. Reduction in budget also resulted in absolute layoffs where about 550 employees

lost their jobs. Firefighters and police officers have taken up 1,200 positions of a total of 1,600

available municipal positions. The city now needs $700 million for capital spending

(Hickenlooper, 2017). In addition, tightening of the budget has also reduced investment in

infrastructure projects.

In a political context, Springs is rather conservative. The entire town has an aversion to

taxes that has contributed to the budget crisis. City’s proposal to increase the property tax was

rejected by the citizens. Spring’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) allows the citizens to vote on

proposed tax increments (Staver, 2019). Voting of the citizens made it rather clear that they were

reluctant to paying increased taxes but absolutely okay suffering the tax cuts. Currently, the city

earns no significant revenue from property taxes. Besides, it also has low sales taxes.
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It is particularly because of low tax collection that the city is undergoing recession.

Instead of opting for increased taxation, citizens prefer radical cuts in municipal services. In

order to deal with the situation, the officials decided to raise sales taxes. As a result, the tax

revenue from sales increased. In addition to that, the city also managed to save a lot of money by

cutting down on the workforce and municipal services. With substantial cost savings, officials

decided to restore most of the services they had purged a year ago.

Buses now move on Saturdays and the streetlights have also been turned on. New recruits

are also being trained by the fire academies and the police. Besides, parks in the Springs are

being watered and re-seeded again. It is through the budget crises that Springs has become more

innovative in providing services. For instance, it got into a partnership with an environmental

firm based in New Jersey, Greener Corners, for the purpose of recycling downtown areas and

city parks. The city does not need to pinch in extra money for recycling, but will be entitled to a

revenue of up to 15% by placing advertisements on the garbage cans.

Like many other cities, Colorado Springs is now restoring its services and investing in

infrastructure projects to get out of recession. The city might have taken certain steps to reduce

the severity of the crisis or avoid it altogether. To increase the tax collection, it could have

created more jobs. In addition, the city could have also created higher-paying jobs. This could

have reduced the severity of crisis and allowed the officials to restore most of the city municipal

services.
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Bibliography

Hickenlooper, J. (2017, March 17). Governor: Colorado Faces Nearly $700 Million Budget

Deficit. Retrieved from https://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/03/17/report-colorado-faces-nearly-

700-million-budget-deficit/

Staver, A. (2019, June 20). TABOR FAQ: Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights explained.

Retrieved from https://www.denverpost.com/2019/06/20/tabor-colorado-taxpayer-bill-of-rights/