June 2, 2023

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Olympic Museum Profits, Mayor Mobolade First 100 Days Plan, Property Tax Appeal Information, and More!

Here are some of the stories we are following this week. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-the-minute news. 


  • The Olympic Museum saw a decline in visitors in 2022, yet still made a profit of $1.7 million. How did they do that? Here is our original article summarizing all of the taxpayer funds being routed to the Olympic Museum.


  • Colorado Springs ranks number one as the best market for recent college graduates, according to Zillow. How will an influx of young college graduates impact public policy in Colorado Springs? 


  • The City of Florence, Colorado has been knowingly overbilling taxpayers for water at the Florence ADX prison complex.


  • Nearly 66%, or $1.9 billion, of federal COVID pandemic relief funds went to schools. “Schools” is a big word. Like “beef” in hot dogs, it could mean anything. We wonder if there is any actual, detailed accounting of where this money went.


  • Remember Metronet, the fiberoptic company installing fiber internet for customers? Well, their network is live, and in high demand. Their network also doesn’t require taxpayer funds to build, like the network Colorado Springs Utilities is building. So shouldn’t Colorado Springs Utilities drop it’s municipal broadband venture?


  • This video details all the scheming and dishonesty used to push Senate Bill 303 and the resultant Proposition HH through the legislature. It’s an impressively disgusting abuse of power, and tells you just how much leftist radicals in the legislature, and Governor Polis, despise the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which simply demands that they ask permission from taxpayers to keep excess taxpayer dollars. 


  • Folks may remember that former El Paso County Assessor Steve Schleiker held numerous meetings about the coming explosion in property valuations. He did a great job explaining this. We’ve included links to the recorded meetings Mr. Schleiker held in both 2019 and 2021. 


  • Springs Taxpayers United reached out to the current Assessor and he passed along that in 2021, 52% of valuation appeals were approved and the average reduction in valuation was $60,000. If people feel their valuations are incorrect, they need to appeal them by June 8th. Simply click this link to locate your property address and schedule the appeal. If they need assistance from the Assessor’s office, here is their website. 


  • Colorado Springs Utilities reports that the six natural gas generators at the current Martin Drake site will be able replace all the energy the old plant once generated. We are also told that they will be less expensive to operate, and will save customers money.


  • The soft-on-crime laws passed by the Colorado Legislature have resulted in a mind-boggling increase of brazen retail theft in the state. Criminals are emboldened when there are no consequences for their actions. 


  • Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade has outlined his plan for the first 100 days in office. Community involvement in government and addressing homelessness are among his top priorities.


  • In his new position as Mayor, Mr. Mobolade will inherit some employee agreements made by his predecessors in office. Some of these agreements include up to six months of severance pay for top city officials.


  • If you would like to help support us in our mission as government watchdogs by becoming a Newsletter Sponsor, we are offering two sponsorships for each weekly newsletter, at the nominal cost of $100 each. Funds raised from these sponsorship opportunities will help us to keep looking out for taxpayers. 


Here are some upcoming meetings in the area. We hope you can attend one or more!

If there are other public meetings you’d like to see announced here, please drop us a line. We are happy to include them in an upcoming newsletter. These might be government-related, candidate, or elected official meetings. Thanks!

 

Colorado Springs City Council Meetings


Monday, June 12, 10:00 a.m.

Colorado Springs City Council Work Session

107 N. Nevada, 3rd floor

Live stream link here

Agenda not yet posted


Tuesday, June 13, 10:00 a.m.

Colorado Springs City Council

107 N. Nevada, 3rd floor

Live stream link here

Agenda not yet posted


El Paso County Board of County Commissioner Meetings


Tuesday, June 6, 9:00 a.m. 

El Paso County Board of County Commissioners

Centennial Hall

200 S. Cascade

Live stream link here

Agenda not yet posted


Tuesday, June 13, 9:00 a.m. 

El Paso County Board of County Commissioners

Centennial Hall

200 S. Cascade

Live stream link here

Agenda not yet posted


Colorado Springs Utilities Board of Directors


Wednesday, June 21, 1:00 p.m.

Utilities Board of Directors

Blue River Board Room

Plaza of the Rockies, South Tower, 5th Floor 

Live stream link here

Agenda not yet posted


Miscellaneous Meetings of Interest


Wednesday, June 14

Living With Wildfire Townhall Cedar Heights, Garden of the Gods/Pleasant Valley, Holland Park, Kissing Camels, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Mountain Shadows, Peregrine, Pinecliff

Colorado Springs Masonic Center

1150 Panorama Drive

Agenda



View the full Colorado Springs City Council meeting schedule here to see upcoming meetings.

 

View the full Board of El Paso County Commissioners meeting schedule here to see upcoming meetings.

 

View the full Colorado Springs Utilities Board meeting schedule here to see upcoming meetings. Please also follow CSU on social media at their Facebook Page and on Twitter. 


Don't forget to subscribe to our You Tube Channel. Since most of the City and County board and commission meetings are not televised or recorded, we are trying to remedy that. We now have a camera and tri-pod for volunteers to check out for future meetings. 


If you have a tip about a story in the Pikes Peak region that you aren’t seeing reported, let us know. We will see what we can find out.


How to Contact City and County Officials:


City Hall

107 N. Nevada Avenue

Colorado Springs CO 80903

(719) 385-5986

Contact City Council

 

Mayor's Office

30 S Nevada Avenue, Suite 601

Colorado Springs, CO 80901

(719) 385-5900

Contact Mayors Office


County Commissioners

200 South Cascade Avenue, Suite 100 

Colorado Springs, CO 80903-2202

Phone: (719) 520-7276

https://www.elpasoco.com/contact-us/


Thank you!

Laura and Rebecca

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