Colorado Springs – El Paso County is facing a projected $7.5 million budget shortfall next year, and one official blames a combination of population growth, tax cuts and inflation.
“Part of the new reality is that people are moving in who want more services,” county commission Chairman Dennis Hisey told The Gazette in Wednesday’s editions. “They may like the low-tax mantra, but then they call us and ask how come they didn’t get their road plowed or their potholes fixed.”
Commissioners are scheduled to meet Thursday to review possible cuts in maintenance, human services, information technology, transportation and other areas.
El Paso County, the state’s second-largest after Denver, has a 2007 budget of $246 million. About $142 million of that is discretionary spending, and the rest goes to mandated programs or is passed on to other government bodies, officials said.
Hisey said the county would likely seek a sales-tax increase in 2008.
“I think we’ve come to this crisis after so many lean years,” he said. “We’re to the point where we’re cutting bone.”
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Information from: The Gazette,
