Attempt to shift open space funds to parks fails
Don't mess with TOPS.
That's the message voters sent city leaders Tuesday on Question 1C. The ballot question was defeated 51 to 49 percent.
IC would have taken $600,000 from the Trails, Open Space and Parks tax and used it to maintain existing parks. But critics noted the change would have meant less money for buying new open space at a time when land prices are low.
"This is good," said Dan Cleveland, director of the non-profit Trails and Open Space Coalition, which opposed 1C. "This validates how much people appreciate TOPS and want it to continue, but the close vote also says people are concerned about parks maintenance and we are going to have to search for a solution."
The TOPS (Trails, Open Space and Parks) tax, raises a penny for every $10 spent in Colorado Springs. The millions collected have been used to preserve 4,590 acres of open land, including Red Rock Canyon, Stratton Open Space and Blodgett Peak, and build 26 parks projects and miles of urban trails.
When voters approved TOPS in 1997, they included a provision that no money from TOPS could be used on anything else. It was a legal lockbox to keep city government from raiding the fund. Many saw 1C as the key.
It would have allowed 15 percent of the TOPS budget, or about $600,000 a year, to be spent anywhere in the Colorado Springs park system. The change would have lasted five years.
Colorado Springs city parks department could have used the money. It has seen its budget shrink in recent years. At the same time, the rate for water used to keep parks green has increased by 44 percent.
"This is going to be a rough year for us," said parks director Paul Butcher.
He said watering of parks and repair and maintenance for playgrounds and rest rooms will be especially hard hit.
"We're going to do our darnedest to keep the turf alive," he said. "But with other things we'll have to step back."
Cleveland agrees that parks need better funding - just not at the expense of TOPS.
He is part of a group called the Sustainable Parks Initiative that has been meeting since last fall to brainstorm a long-term solution for funding local park maintenance.
He said it could mean a special tax district, along with more robust volunteer programs.
"We are examining a lot of alternatives," he said. "But we don't have any specifics yet. We still have a lot of work to do."
In the meantime, both Butcher and Cleveland said citizens need to get involved to do things that the city can no longer afford to do.
People can adopt a park or a trail in their neighborhood, or simply pick up trash and brush when they see it in parks and playgrounds.
"Folks are going to need to step up and volunteer," Butcher said. "And I know they will. In Colorado Springs they always have."
