\nEl Paso County’s budget has shed $45 million over the past three years, clipped by the generosity of past tax-cutting county commissioners, stretched by the demands of a surging population and perpetually in the sights of limited-government forces. […]<\/span><\/p>\nThe impacts are widespread:<\/p>\n
\u2022 For years, the health department has lacked the staff to inspect restaurants and other food providers <\/strong>twice a year, as required by state law. Department director Kandi Buckland said it’s no coincidence that “in 2008, preliminary data showed El Paso County had the largest number of food-borne illness” in the state.<\/p>\n\u2022 The health department has stopped inspecting day-care centers <\/strong>and won’t inspect swimming pools <\/strong>this summer. That might make swimmers queasy, considering that last year, the department closed 80 pools \u2014 including six contaminated with E. coli.<\/p>\n\u2022 The Sheriff’s Office has the same number of patrol deputies it had in 1998, when there were 70,000 fewer residents. In some parts of the county, it takes deputies 22 minutes<\/strong> \u2014 more than double the ideal time \u2014 to arrive when someone calls 911.<\/p>\n\u2022 Most county offices are closed on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u2022 When gas prices peaked last summer, Sheriff Terry Maketa ordered patrol cars parked. Deputies stopped cruising and instead waited for calls to come in. DUI arrests plummeted<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u2022 The coroner’s office, where space is so cramped that human-tissue samples are stored in a garage <\/strong>behind the main building, has only four investigators. Two of them have to be on duty at all times.<\/p>\n\u2022 The city of Colorado Springs has cut 173 jobs since December \u2014 out of a workforce that once numbered 632.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The county clerk’s office employs the same number of people it did in 1994. That partially explains the recent dust-up when County Clerk Robert Balink was accused of telling staff not to answer the phones<\/strong>. Actually, according to county spokesman Dave Rose, the phone-bank staff who used to answer those calls were laid off, and remaining staff are swamped.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n(Emphasis mine.)<\/p>\n
Despite that, Doug Bruce is convinced that government is lighting their expensive barbecues with rolled-up thousand dollar bills.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n“I know how much money they waste,” Bruce said. He writes about that topic on his website, which includes a 42-item list of what he calls wasteful county spending.<\/p>\n
“They’re pouring money out like it’s a broken fire hydrant,” said the former county commissioner, who disputes the notion that the county budget is shrinking.<\/p>\n
He also questions the need to pay county staff so much and for paid vacations. “Why are we paying people to have a vacation?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Maybe we can all take up a collection to send Bruce off on a vacation.<\/p>\n
That said, this is democracy in action. County and city taxpayers have refused to pay for anything extra, and the comments to the article quoted above are straight from the libertarian workbook (“Public Schools are not essential government. Neither are libraries in the Internet age, scientific research in the era of private research, and many others. County government has these basic purposes: roads and infrastructure, law enforcement, and elections. Everything else is unnecessary and excessive”).<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Under the “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” (TABOR, which actually sounds more like the name of a Killer Alien Robot in a bad 50s SF movie), Colorado state government has very tight restrictions on tax increases and mandating refunds of any surpluses. 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Tax law quirk means pot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13602,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/05\/colorado_ballot_propositi-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13979,"position":2},"title":"Colorado Ballot Propositions – Recap","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Nov-08 12:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For the most part, my vote \"No\" was echoed by most Colorado voters. My vote [State vote]\u00a0 * AMENDMENT 46 -\u00a0Colorado Civil Rights Initiative\u00a0- Would prohibit the state from granting...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18890,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/13\/colorado-ballot-propositions-2010-the-ugly-three.html","url_meta":{"origin":13979,"position":3},"title":"Colorado Ballot Propositions 2010: “The Ugly Three”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Oct-10 9:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The State of Colorado has nine ballot measures this coming election. I'm going to discuss them all, but I want to start with the \"Ugly Three\" (as their opponents have dubbed them). It's not surprising to find regular efforts to hold the line, or even cut back on government spending.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2010"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2010","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2010"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13689,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/22\/colorado_ballot_propositi.html","url_meta":{"origin":13979,"position":4},"title":"Colorado ballot propositions","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 22-Oct-08 2:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I touched on this topic a month back, but I've finished going through the ballot proper, and here are my thoughts. \u00a0 First, a side note: Damn, I am...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12851,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/17\/colorado_ballot_initiativ.html","url_meta":{"origin":13979,"position":5},"title":"Colorado ballot initiatives","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Sep-08 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"BD notes the current array of ballot initiatives coming up here in Colorado this fall. I've really not paid much attention to them as yet, and don't know much beyond...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}