The City Council wants more money in 2013.
The proposed council budget for next year is nearly $1 million, which is nearly $200,000 more than 2012.
Councilwoman Angela Dougan said she is opposed to increasing the council’s budget.
“We should be leaders and model reducing government and its cost to taxpayers,” she said. “If there are new budget items that the council would like to pay for, council members need to cut from the existing budget.”
The city’s overall budget is more than $200 million.
The proposed increases in council’s budget include an additional$48,222 to make a half-time principal analyst a full-time employee with an annual salary of $96,444.
The council also is proposing to add $23,500 to its budget to make a newly hired communications specialist a full-time employee. That employee, Vicki Gomes, who was hired to work 30 hours a week, would be paid $66,500 under the proposed budget.
Council Administrator Aimee Cox would get a $4,845 raise, bringing her annual salary to $101,736.
The council also is budgeting $4,150 for a “council transition” following the April municipal election, where six council seats are up for grabs. Budgeted expenses include $1,200 for “outgoing gifts” for six council members and $600 for a swearing-in ceremony and reception.
The council is proposing to transfer the cost of the city lobbyist — $35,000 — from the general costs budget to the council budget. The lobbyist’s salary wouldn’t change.
The budget for snacks and drinks won’t change either. The council plans to spend $2,900 for drinks and snacks next year, too. Council members, who are paid $6,250 a year, often spend long hours in meetings at City Hall and don’t have time to go eat lunch or dinner.
One million doesn’t sound like a lot.
one million for the body of legislation and board of utilities and in charge of a hospital seems like small change.
I sat in a Council meeting for about 6 hrs and wanted to blow my brains out. With all the new hires Mayor Bachs team have brought in and all the goodies they get, cant Council get a crummy meal bought for them?
Daniel did you mean some part of the over all budget, it just reads as if the entire city budget is one million.
I’ll update the blog post to make it more clear that the overall budget is over $200M. Thanks, Tim!
Thanks Daniel
$96k for a “prinicpal analyst”?? No way someone would be hired at that rate in the private sector (in this town) today. Not with the amount of qualified people out there looking for work. Try again, city.
The amount that you pay the IT guys there, you should have the most bulletproof system out there. The City’s online offerings, for example, are mediocre at best (and outsourced!)
They can bring their own snacks, the rest of the world does. “Outgoing Gifts” they can have a picture and a vinyl holder and copies of all of Daniel’s blogs about them, cost for under $100.00. This city constantly over pays it’s employees.
just give them a teabag…it would be appropriate for this village.
If they want an extra $200,000 I am sure they can find it in their budget, I can.
1. Cur the tennis court maintenance program to $75,000. Determine which courts are not used at all and turn them into skate board parks.
SAVES 100,000.
2. Get rid of the additional Code Enforcement officer the PD neither wanted or needed. Council went ahead with this expense in a temper tantrum.
SAVES $84,295
3. Stop painting free ugly paint chipping murals for non-profits like the USOC.
SAVES $21,000
4. QUIT GIVING THE USOC TAXPAYER’S MONEY.
SAVES $42,300,000
TOTAL SAVINGS = $42,505,295
The council has more than they need by about $42 million dollars, in fact I think they need to give us a tax cut.
The whole lot of them are WANKERS.
Drunk guy, there you go ahead talking out your arse. Word on street is tennis courts havent been fixed and parks used some of that money in a matching grant non related. Code enforcement officers are needed to clean up all the homeless camps resurfacing and gettin people to pick up after themselves. The city stole the position to be the sign police around town. The mural only cost 18, and USOC gives big coin to this City as well as helps bring in our tourism dollars. The big money is going to employee salaries. None hired in last year are like the pvt sector. All to high if you compare.
Sara, nice to talk to a girl that enjoys using the word arse, lets me know allot about you!
1. If the tennis courts were not repaired and the money was spent on something else it proves the mayor, councilwoman Dugan’s and my point that the money was not needed. If it was spent on something not approved by the council I want to know who is responsible for hijacking the taxpayers money. If true there needs to be an audit of Park & Rec.
2. Code enforcement officer that was not requested or want by the police is being used to clean up homeless camps? Cant find a reference to that. Can you please reference your statement? If it is true $84,000 for the sign police? I would rather the PD hire a real police officer to be the only police burglary and theft responder in town.
3. Cant find a reference to $18,000 for the ugly, chipping mural for a non-profit. The city has no business advertising for local businesses. Even if it was a dollar it was abuse of taxpayer’s precious tax dollars.
The USOC has $42 million of the city’s dollars and a free building to boot, let them advertise for themselves.
4. The USOC is a leach to this community. It is because of them that we had to shut off street lights, not water parks which killed hundreds of our old trees.
Name one thing the USOC has done for this community other than the bike race back in 1986. Not a good return for the millions of dollars of pain afflicted on this community to keep a non-profit that exists here only in the form of a glorified tee-shirt shop.
BTW the citizens of Colorado Springs paid for those ugly uniforms made in China, arn’t your proud?
Of course lefty Jan Martin is behind this. She wants to try and raise our taxes once again to pay for their spending. This is all the left knows how to do.
Good for you Angela!
Gee, what’s news about Hente & Martin wanting more tax $$$ ????
I agree with Councilwoman Dougan.
Let’s add this to the list:
Let’s start keeping track. Here we are in a prolonged recession, with world economic conditions boding ill for any recovery soon. And here is City Council wanting tax increases for:
1) stormwater
2) PPRTA tax extension.
3) Obamacare, the biggest tax increase ever on the middle class
4) The City Council wants more money in 2013, nearly $1 million, which is nearly $200,000 more than 2012
All while we face stealth inflation in our utility bills (water), food and gasoline.
In this economy, with the budget crisis the City is facing, why on earth would the Council Laision get a 5% raise? That is huge, and totally inappropriate right now.