Springs City Council votes to save Pioneers Museum

The Pioneers Museum and two recreational facilities slated to be casualties in the 2010 budget received a stay of execution from the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday.

A supposed miscalculation in the amount of money that Colorado Springs Utilities pays to the city government in lieu of taxes resulted in about $4.3 million in additional revenue in next year’s spending plan. There were three different calculations of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes amount owed by the Utilities, and the council chose the city auditor’s.

The money was allocated to the city government’s reserve fund, which was then raided by council members to the tune of nearly $600,000.

“We went on a feeding frenzy,” said City Councilman Tom Gallagher.

Even Gallagher got in on the action, asking for $500,000 for the Engineering Division, which was gutted in the 2010 budget. He was turned down.

Here’s a breakdown of how the expenditures that were approved will be spent:

• $365,000 to keep the Pioneers Museum open to the public next year. City officials had decided to spend about $302,000 in gift trust funds on the museum next year, but it was only to cover such costs as utilities to protect the collection.

• $221,109 to keep the Aquatic and Fitness Center at Memorial Park and the Cottonwood Recreation Center open for three months to give the community time to find a long-term funding solution. Councilman Sean Paige, who had successfully lobbied his colleagues to fund community centers and Rock Ledge Ranch for three months during a budget balancing session last month, said it had been an “oversight” not to also include the aquatics centers and give them a chance to develop private partnerships, too.

• $12,750 to fund the Mayor’s 100 Teens program for three months, giving Mayor Lionel Rivera a head start in raising the additional $38,250 to keep the program running for the entire year.

Councilman Darryl Glenn objected to the expenditures, saying the council was making a “mockery” of the budget process. Glenn advocated leaving the reserve fund untouched.

“We know that we’re looking at projected deficits in the future, and I think we need to afford our city manager an opportunity to take a look at this particular revenue and come up with an economic recovery plan. We have impacts across the entire city, public safety, you name it,” he said. “The one thing I don’t want to turn this into is a free-for-all (of using) one-time money to solve some of these particular problems.”

Glenn, however, was in the minority.

Although Gallagher voted in favor of spending $365,000 from the reserve fund on the museum, he joined Glenn and Councilman Randy Purvis in voting against the budget.

“The funny thing about service delivery is it’s still labor that delivers and management that supervises,” he said. “We have preserved management, but without the labor force, I don’t need the management. If I had gotten rid of the Parks Department management structure, I could keep the parks open. It’s as simple as that.”

—
Call the writer at 476-1623