Springs puts two Bruce measures on the ballot

Colorado Springs residents will vote in November on two measures that would overhaul how the city's 11 enterprises do business, including Colorado Springs Utilities and the Stormwater Enterprise.

After community leaders bashed the proposals and their author, tax-cutting activist Rep. Douglas Bruce, the City Council on Monday voted to place the measures on the Nov. 4 ballot. The council's only other choice under the city charter was to adopt the proposals.

Triggered by the stormwater fee imposed by the council in January 2007, the measures would phase out enterprise payments to the city over 10 years and would make all customer payments to enterprises voluntary.

Most troublesome to the city is that one measure would phase out Springs Utilities' $26 million annual payment to the city in lieu of taxes. Another outcome city officials consider onerous would be the city's inability to force property owners to pay $15 million a year in stormwater fees.

City officials say the measures would translate to a general fund loss of some $200 million over 10 years.

Terry Storm, with the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors, said the measures would "destroy Colorado Springs."

"I'm very, very concerned," said Marjorie Smith, a member of the city's Public Safety Sales Tax Committee. "I worry we will not have enough police officers and firefighters."

Kevin Walker, with the Housing and Building Association, said the group would "do our best" to work to defeat the proposals.

David Munger, a neighborhood advocate, called the measures dangerous and "a move toward anarchy."

Although Bruce wasn't at the meeting during the discussion, Councilman Jerry Heimlicher challenged him to "tell us what the waste is. We'll get rid of it."

Mayor Lionel Rivera said he's confident citizens will reject the measures, just like they defeated Bruce's two tax-cut and debt-limitation measures in 2006.

Councilman Darryl Glenn said he, too, will work to defeat the measures but reminded the council what gave rise to the initiatives - the council's refusal to submit the stormwater fee to voters.

"A lot of citizens feel they deserved to vote on this," he said. "People should vote on anything that will increase their financial expenditures. There's a lesson to be learned here."

Bruce said in an interview that a tax cut isn't anarchy, noting that a city tax cut in 1991 ushered in a period of growth.

"I think that the public is going to decide this on a very simple basis," he said. "They know that the City Council is lying to them in saying this is a fee, not a tax, and they resent having their vote taken away from them as guaranteed by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights." That law requires tax increases and government debt be approved by voters.

The city's enterprises are Colorado Springs Airport, Memorial Health System, Springs Utilities, cemeteries, Development Review Enterprise, Human Services Complex, parking system, Patty Jewett and Valley Hi golf courses, Pikes Peak Highway and Stormwater.

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