A lesson in wasteful spending

To anyone with a nose for controversy, things didn’t get interesting at the first session of the second annual El Paso County Citizen’s College until Commissioner Douglas Bruce took the microphone.

Each of the 36 county residents who are participating in the eightweek know-your-county course was handed a list of 42 ways Bruce says the county has squandered taxpayer money.

“I’m doing that so that during the next seven weeks as you go through these presentations from the county, you will think about the other side of the coin,” said Bruce, who spoke after County Assessor Mark Lowderman and County Administrator Jeff Greene.

“When you hear from somebody you can look to see how much he’s making, and he’s got examples of his budget, of money he’s wasting, when he says that he can’t get by,” Bruce said.

It was Bruce’s usual speech about wasteful and illegal spending, but this time, instead of being cut off by his fellow commissioners, it was organizers of the event who limited him to 20 minutes of his claims concerning mismanagement and violations of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Commissioner Jim Bensberg, who took the microphone after Bruce, was allowed 30 minutes to speak about the responsibilities of county commissioners and, in a rebuttal to Bruce, a list of unfunded mandates the county receives from the state and federal governments.

Bensberg was put on the spot by some participants who grilled him on whether, as Bruce had said, the county is wasting money.

Bob Deck of Falcon wanted answers on whether No. 20 on Bruce’s list, “$8M+ yearly payments in illegal county debts (COPs), NONE voter-approved,” is a fact, especially in light of a previous presenter’s statement that the county is $8 million in debt.

Deck said he hopes the remaining seven courses aren’t merely a survey of how county government works but will offer answers to other problems plaguing the county, such as road maintenance.

For two of the youngest students in the room, however, the overview was helpful.

Elizabeth Davis and Chelsea Hayes, both 17-year-old seniors at Liberty High School, were recruited by their school counselor for the classes.

Both said they appreciate the opportunity to learn more about how county government is structured and “where property taxes go.”

“I think it is really important to learn about this sort of thing because you do get to vote on it every few years, and a lot of people go into it not knowing what they are voting on,” Davis said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0232 or carlyn.mitchell@gazette.com