Denver Post Article: COS turning out streetlights to save on the electric bill (Colorado Springs: employment, buying)

[mtngigi]

I haven't read this whole thread, but wanted to throw my 2¢ into the ring.

Colorado Springs has the ability to go solar in so many ways ... street lights being one of them. Why can't we move to solar-powered street lights ... surely this technology exists? It seems like such an obvious solution and a good thing to do, even if the city wasn't having budget problems.

[chilicheesefries]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

I haven't read this whole thread, but wanted to throw my 2¢ into the ring.

Colorado Springs has the ability to go solar in so many ways ... street lights being one of them. Why can't we move to solar-powered street lights ... surely this technology exists? It seems like such an obvious solution and a good thing to do, even if the city wasn't having budget problems.

They will be cheaper to operate but there is a sizeable upfront cost to getting solar lights. Since they don't have money to operate the ones they have they surely don't have money to buy and install new lights.

[mollygee]

The city is turning more lights out. Does anyone over at council have ANY common sense? It seems to me that crime and car accidents have went up since the city decided to "go dark," to save money?

At whose expense are they doing this???? Maybe, a few lawsuits would get those lights back on.

Elections and forums, how sweet it is. I hope our NEW council and mayor will think about the people they want to serve; not just their own self gratifications.

Is it a conflict of interest to have the city direct all of the moves of the city owned utility company? If the city owns the utility company; tell me again; why are the lights out?

Molly

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by chilicheesefries

They will be cheaper to operate but there is a sizeable upfront cost to getting solar lights. Since they don't have money to operate the ones they have they surely don't have money to buy and install new lights.

Oh, the money is there, somewhere. It's always found when it needs to be, and it's always being wasted right under our noses, every day.

A few solar lights at a time wouldn't make or break anything.

[Maynerd]

Originally Posted by mollygee

I hope our NEW council and mayor will think about the people they want to serve; not just their own self gratifications.

Originally Posted by mtngigi

Oh, the money is there, somewhere. It's always found when it needs to be, and it's always being wasted right under our noses, every day.

A few solar lights at a time wouldn't make or break anything.

TABOR throws a wrench into this type of thought. The City needs to break even. Full stop. Revenues are down due to the recession, so spending needs to be reduced. It's not a desire to decrease spending; it's a hard-and-fast requirement.

The City approached the taxpayer last November and asked for more money to keep programs afloat. The People said "No!"

And now, those same people are up-in-arms about streetlights being turned off and community centers being shuttered.

City government gets no gratification whatsoever by turning off streetlights. Nor by truning off the water in the parks. Nor by discontinuing weekend bus service. Rather than berate the Council for operating within a budget they warned us about, we should be championing a fix to the problem...even if that fix involves higher property taxes.

The problem wasn't caused by self-gratification on the part of the local government, but by self-gratification on the part of the voting public.

Perhaps the "waste right under our noses...every day" was paying for streetlights and paying for empty busses to run. If we want world-class services from the City, we need to be willing to pay for them. So far, we haven't indicated we're willing to pay the bill.

[mtngigi]

In the interest of full disclosure, I live in Manitou Springs, and unfortunately, even though a lot of decisions made by CS politicians and votes affects the entire Pikes Peak region, I have no voice in the elections, though I sometimes wish I did.

[mollygee]

Could the city of Colorado Springs, financial problems be from poor management of funds? How much cash was spent on the USOC deal????

When I first moved here, several years ago; there was a small fee included with my utility bill, for street-lights. What happened to that "bright," idea?

Why does everything depend on the property owner. Why not ask for less taxes on a plea to up our taxes. The powers that be wanted to triple our taxes to make up for the shortage, they created.

Have an election that lets us choose where we want the funds to go.

Asking for much higher taxes in a slow economy makes as much sense as turning the street-lights out and stopping the bus system at night and week-ends and taking trash cans out of parks, making our city look and feel dumpy.

If it were not for the kind and concerned people of this community pitching in and volunteering where would this city be?

Does the city of Colorado Springs get any money from the military bases? Why are we so poor?? Or are we??? We need new minds and ideas in our government.

Molly

[YoYoSpin]

Anyone who has an opinion or interest in Colorado Springs city finances and programs, should have a read of this document - City Manager's letter to the Council, dated January 1, 2010. Even though Penelope doesn't work here anymore, her letter to the Council seems pretty complete and informative, fairly representing the current year’s budget and revenue situation and plans.

[YoYoSpin]

If you really want to get into how Colorado Springs city finances work, then have a read of these two documents: 2010 Expenditure Overview ($212,236,374) and Revenue Overview ($212,236,374).

One of the things I find interesting, actually more disturbing than interesting, is the lack of correlation between these two documents. For example, the city budgets expense against several “Enterprise Funds” for things like the city owned airport, cemeteries, golf courses, parking lots and Pikes Peak (see pages 54-55 of the Expenditure Overview document). However, there are no corresponding entries for these “Enterprise Funds” items in the "Revenue Overview" document – in other words, there is no way to know if things like the city’s golf courses or parking lots pay for themselves. Which begs the question of whether or not the city should own these businesses in the first place, not to mention the Memorial Hospital system and Colorado Springs Utilities - whose costs and revenue is not addressed in any of these documents?

It’s a question of good faith disclosure – if these "Enterprise Funds" things break even or are even profitable, then that’s great. But we have no way of knowing based on the information provided by the city, and thus have no way of making an informed judgment on if these assets should be sold to pay for more important needs like police and fire protection.

[mtngigi]

Government and full disclosure ... an oxymoron if ever there was one.