City Testimonials: "I hope that you have received 500 calls saying THANK YOU for the new playground at Bonforte Park! It is a terrific neighborhood park and we so appreciate the improvements. I walk by every day and see so many children and parents enjoying themselves." -Citizen Comment "The crew from Engine 15A were professional, knowledgeable, courteous, and extremely helpful, not only did this group of professionals represent the Fire Department in a positive light, they also speak to a city government that is responsive and courteous to the public."- Citizen Comment "We've found with projects we're doing, the City seems to be as proactive as they possibly can be." -Real Estate CEO "Grateful for the progress made by CSPD to curb shoplifting." -Business Loss Prevention Manager "Not only was my concern addressed in a professional and timely manner, but Finance Planning & Analysis Manager Leslie Hickey took the time to let me know that changes were on the way. This is the direct opposite of some folks' perception of local government." -Citizen Comment "Thank you very much for fixing the potholes on the round about for Squirrel Tail and Brainard as well as the divot by the water outlet on Squirrel Tail towards Musgrave. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" -Citizen Comment "Accounts Payable Supervisor Patti McFarland was true to her word, she called me back within days to give a status report. Then she called again to update me. Then, she called today to let me know she had been able to contact the unreachable tow company, received an invoice, and would be reimbursing the portion the business manager agreed to pay! I know that it was a sustained effort because I tried for several months and got nowhere. I can't express my overwhelming gratitude to Patti and your office for their work in this matter. We run a service-based business and try to learn from other organizations whenever we can. I will bring up this instance at our weekly meeting as an example of good service to be commended and followed.Thanks to you and Patti for the surprisingly positive experience I had with your office." -Local Small Business Owner "Thanks to Traffic Technician Pete Doyle, his community attitude to work with the residents is commendable. Thank you once again." -Citizen Comment "Streets Operations Manager Bard Lower has provided me superb customer service, above and beyond what could reasonably be expected. I know that this has been a priority for your administration, and I felt it important to let you know that it is working. Mr. Lower and his associates deserve kudos for their proactive, thorough handling of this five-year-old snow plowing issue and I am grateful to you as well for making the City more responsive to citizen requests." -Citizen Comment "As a new resident of Colorado Springs, it’s apparent that the City really does excel in taking care of its residents and treats its citizens more like neighbors and friends than just customers on a long “to-do” list. Thank you for all your exceptional service." -Citizen Comment

Mayor will request that City Council end FREX Deal

June 9, 2012 By

Mayor Steve Bach will request City Council action on Tuesday, June 12,  to terminate the FREX bus service IGA between the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, RTD, and Castle Rock.  Following are the letters sent to each:

June 8, 2012

The Honorable Paul Donahue, Mayor

Town of Castle Rock

100 N. Wilcox St.
Castle Rock, CO 80104

Dear Mayor Donahue and Town Council Members:

This letter is to inform you that I am requesting City Council action on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 to terminate the Front Range Express (FREX) bus service IGA between the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, RTD, and Castle Rock. 

While The City of Colorado Springs recognizes that FREX has provided a valuable transportation service, our existing transit services are not financially sustainable and our region is shouldering too much of the cost for that service, given its benefit to the Denver Metro area and the State.

Our Transit operating budget expenditures exceed revenues by $800,000 this year. With the current and projected costs of operation, we cannot afford to provide existing services into the future. We need to cut costs and our priority must be to support the sustainability of local transit services.

If the action is approved by City Council on Tuesday, June 12th, FREX will be discontinued, with the last day of service being August 31, 2012.  As a commuting alternative, we are encouraging current FREX riders to contact the City to inquire about participating in our carpool matching and vanpool programs.

Regards,

Steve Bach

Mayor

June 8, 2012

The Honorable Amy Lathen, Chair

El Paso County Board of County Commissioners

200 South Cascade Avenue, Suite 100
Colorado Springs, CO 80903-2202

Dear Commission Chair Lathen and Board of County Commissioners:

This letter is to inform you that I am requesting City Council action on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 to terminate the Front Range Express (FREX) bus service IGA between the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, RTD, and Castle Rock. 

While The City of Colorado Springs recognizes that FREX has provided a valuable transportation service, our existing transit services are not financially sustainable and our region is shouldering too much of the cost for that service, given its benefit to the Denver Metro area and the State.

Our Transit operating budget expenditures exceed revenues by $800,000 this year. With the current and projected costs of operation, we cannot afford to provide existing services into the future. We need to cut costs and our priority must be to support the sustainability of local transit services.

If the action is approved by City Council on Tuesday, June 12th, FREX will be discontinued, with the last day of service being August 31, 2012.  As a commuting alternative, we are encouraging current FREX riders to contact the City to inquire about participating in our carpool matching and vanpool programs.

Regards,

Steve Bach

Mayor

Mr. Phillip Washington

Regional Transportation District

1600 Blake Street

Denver,  Colorado 80202

 Dear Mr. Washington and RTD Board

This letter is to inform you that I am requesting City Council action on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 to terminate the Front Range Express (FREX) bus service IGA between the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, RTD, and Castle Rock.

While The City of Colorado Springs recognizes that FREX has provided a valuable transportation service, our existing transit services are not financially sustainable and our region is shouldering too much of the cost for that service, given its benefit to the Denver Metro area and the State.

Our Transit operating budget expenditures exceed revenues by $800,000 this year. With the current and projected costs of operation, we cannot afford to provide existing services into the future. We need to cut costs and our priority must be to support the sustainability of local transit services.

If the action is approved by City Council on Tuesday, June 12th, FREX will be discontinued, with the last day of service being August 31, 2012.  As a commuting alternative, we are encouraging current FREX riders to contact the City to inquire about participating in our carpool matching and vanpool programs.

Regards,

Steve Bach

 

 

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Filed Under: Budget, Colorado Springs City Council, Mayor Bach News

Mayor Bach’s Town Hall Meeting Streaming Live

April 30, 2012 By

                                                  FOR MORE INFORMATION

Laura Benjamin

Communications Specialist

 (719) 385-5484

 NEWS RELEASE

April 30, 2012                                                                         

Mayor Steve Bach’s second town hall Meeting on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 will be streaming live from the Southeast YMCA beginning at 6:30 pm. You can see the live stream on www.bachsoffice.com.  Questions will be submitted on cards during the meeting.  Citizens can also submit questions before or during the meeting via email to: PublicComm@SpringsGov.com or via social media sites including https://twitter.com/mayorstevebach and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stephengbach .

Topics of discussion will be priorities for the Southeast section of Colorado Springs including:

  • Job Creation
  • Recruiting City Leaders
  • Citizens Advancing Public Safety Program or CAPS
  • Deerfield Hills Streetscapes
  • Citizen Input on Priorities

The Southeast Family Center/Armed Services YMCA is located at 2190 Jetwing Drive, Colorado Springs CO 80916. For directions, please visit http://southeast.ppymca.org/locations. All questions about the meeting can be directed to the City Communications Office at 719-385-5906.

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Filed Under: Budget, Community Relations, Governance Tagged With: , ,

Mayor Meets American Council of Young Political Leaders Pt One

April 24, 2012 By

It’s so encouraging when people from different countries come together to discuss government issues and community concerns. It’s especially exciting when the American Council of Young Political Leaders from Romania and Croatia meet with the Mayor of the second biggest city in Colorado to exchange ideas.

 

Mayor Bach opened the meeting by welcoming the Young Political Leaders then shared a bit about himself. “My ancestors, who were farmers, came from Munich in the 1880′s, so my roots are European. I’m very glad you’re here.” He went on to describe the Mayor-Council form of Government and explain he was a businessman who entered politics towards the end of his career.

“I had one day of retirement. I spent it at home with my wife Suzi and at the end of that day, she suggested I go back to an office.”

“I’m blessed to live here, run a business and be able to help my community. It’s an honor to be in this office and exhilarating to help fellow citizens. It’s a complex job and I continue to learn more every day to help make things better,” said the Mayor.

Members of the American Council said the Mayor runs their city, but they have a two or three party system. In order for the Mayor to get anything done, they must have the majority on Council or they could be blocked for all four years.

“After I was sworn in on June 7, 2011, the first thing I did was ask to see the budget. Previously the budget was only looked at one year at a time. I wanted to know why we couldn’t look 3-5 years out. We project our revenue will increase moderately during that time, but costs will increase rapidly.  Our goal is to get stabilized financially. I am a pragmatic problem-solver. We need to move to priorities based budgeting and focus on core functions like public safety – police and fire.”

Next, ACYPL members and Mayor launched into a discussion on taxes, innovation and the pioneering spirit to be continued in Part Two.

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Filed Under: Arts and Culture, Budget, Governance, Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Mission Critical Appropriations Presented at Mayor’s Counsel Meeting

April 18, 2012 By

CONTACT:

Cindy Aubrey

Chief Communications Officer

(719) 385-5254

 

 

NEWS RELEASE                                                                             

April 18, 2012                                                                                     

Budget update and “mission critical” appropriations requests presented at Mayor’s Counsel Meeting

The April Mayor’s Counsel meeting was held today at Fire Station 18.  Members of City Council were presented with “mission critical” appropriations requests by Chief of Staff Laura Neumann, Fire Chief Rich Brown and Police Chief Pete Carey. The Budget Department also presented preliminary 2011 End of Year Financial Updates along with first quarter performance.

Based upon current pre-audited figures, the 2011 General Fund Balance grew by $6.8M due to approximately $1.1 million in revenue exceeding budget and $5.7 million due to expenditure savings.  Expenditure savings are largely due to salary and benefit savings from vacant positions.  In addition, required reserves declined by $1.9 million, in part because the $2.4 million debt service reserve is no longer required with the refunding of three Certificate of Participation (COP) issues.  In sum, the 2011 General Fund end-of-year available fund balance grew by $8.7 million to 17.34% of the 2012 General Fund expenditure budget. 

With only a few months of data, the preliminary 2012 financial update is based upon the current results of the sales and use tax forecast models compared to budget.  Because of the lag in sales tax collections, the information we have to date is based upon the April Sales and Use Tax Report which is February activity collected in March, reported in April. 

To date, activity has been stronger than the assumption upon which the 2012 budget was based.  At this time the models predict sales and use tax revenue will likely exceed the budgeted amount by approximately $4.9 million to $6.8 million, depending upon the probability assigned.  We caution however, that we only have two months of 2012 activity and the model has been moving sharply up and down over the past few months –sharply up after the most recent unusually positive report. 

In addition, there are significant risks to this forecast which have yet to be captured by the models, including increasing fuel prices and the impact high prices might have on consumer spending and an economic recovery that continues to flag with recent disappointing employment figures.

You will find the Mayor’s Span of Control Budget Highlights located here. 

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Filed Under: Budget, Governance Tagged With: , ,