County, Springs try to be partners
City and county governments want to find out how much cash they can save by working together in delivering services, elected officials decided Monday.
During a quarterly joint meeting of the Colorado Springs City Council and El Paso County commissioners, officials launched a task force to explore how the city and county can combine operations in some areas.
The task force won't delve into merging city and county governments, however. The city and county are separate agencies funded with separate property taxes and sales taxes and overseen by different elected officials.
While some cities and counties have merged, most notably Denver, consolidation has failed to get traction here.
Rather, the task force, headed by Councilman Darryl Glenn and Commissioner Sallie Clark, will study whether opportunities exist to achieve efficiencies.
"The city and county work very collaboratively in many, many areas," Mayor Lionel Rivera said.
Among those is snowplowing. The county handles some outlying city streets, and the city handles county enclaves near or within the city.
Other examples include the Regional Building Department, Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, which collects a 1 percent sales tax for road improvements and bus service, and the Emergency Services Agency, which oversees the emergency ambulance contract.
Rivera urged the city staff to "think outside the box" and find ways to work together on fleets, parks and vehicle maintenance to save taxpayers money.
Assistant City Manager Nancy Johnson said the city's top executives are drafting what's dubbed the Economic Recovery Plan, which spells out savings by joining forces with city-owned Colorado Springs Utilities and Memorial Health Systems, as well as the county.
She said City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graft will present the report within weeks but didn't indicate whether the proposal calls for trimming jobs or how services will be shared.
Glenn, who also wants to include school districts, said the task force has been a long time coming.
"We keep talking about this at every meeting," he said, "but I haven't seen any progress."
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