Here’s a recent interview from Fox21 News with Mayor Steve Bach. Good to watch!

From the Mayor’s Office:

October 3, 2011

Dear Friends:

Today I delivered to Colorado Springs City Council our proposed 2012 General Fund and Public Safety Sales Tax Budget. It maintains services at the current level, and is a first step in achieving fiscal sustainability for our City.

Here is a link to an executive summary.

Steve Bach
Colorado Springs Mayor

Well, the results are in: Steve Bach is the winner of the new Strong Mayor election. Congratulations, Steve! This is a special moment for Colorado Springs—for the first time, we have a truly accountable Mayor with the ability to get things done. According to  KRDO news, Bach beat Skorman 57% to 43%.

Watch the video of Steve’s acceptance speech below:

Here’s a video of a recent event involving the two final candidates for Colorado Springs’ Mayor. Watch as the local young professionals engage both candidates in an open forum.

To the Citizens of Colorado Springs,

There are some great candidates running for the office of Mayor of Colorado Springs, and there are some running that are just more of the same (what we have seen in the past).

After speaking with, meeting and reviewing the websites of many candidates the Executive Board of Taxpayers for Budget Reform (after much deliberation) has agreed to endorse Mr. Steve Bach for Mayor of Colorado Springs. In our opinion Mr. Bach will be the consistent stable leadership that the City of Colorado Springs so desperately desires.

Please review Mr. Bach’s website at www.stevebachmayor.com. I’m sure that after weighing all of the facts and information available, you too will agree that the City would be in good hands with his leadership and guidance.

His website explains how you may contribute to his campaign if you so chose. Every penny will help!

Paul Kleinschmidt
Director
Taxpayers for Budget Reform, LLC

There are many hot button issues that will need to be addressed fairly quickly once the incoming Mayor and City Council take seat. Here’s a short list of a few of the most hotly debated and time sensitive issues facing Colorado Springs right now:

• Status of Memorial Hospital (structure/governance)
• Status of Colorado Springs Utilities (structure/governance)
• High local unemployment rate
• SDS Pipeline (Southern Delivery System)
• PERA in Colorado Springs (Public Employee’s Retirement Union)
• USOC (United States Olympic Committee)
• Stormwater Enterprise
• COPs (Certificates of Participation) and Municipal Bonds
• TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights)
• Budget Shortfalls

These, and many other issues will either be ignored as they have been for a long time, or they can be addressed by the new city government.

What’s your opinion? Which issue is the most important? Where should the Mayor and Councilors focus their efforts first?

[ Here is a list of all the Official Candidates that are currently running for a City Council seat.

Please note: at this time, Taxpayers for Budget Reform is not currently associated with any campaign and does not endorse any of the candidates. -Editor ]

[ The elections have passed and the citizens have spoken: it's time Colorado Springs had a full-time mayor. Here is a current list of some of the candidates running for the newly created office of the strong Mayor. We hope you find this helpful.

Please note: at this time, Taxpayers for Budget Reform is not currently associated with any campaign and does not endorse any of the candidates. -Editor ]

The City Charter of Colorado Springs states that the Mayoral race and position is non-partisan (though each individual candidate may belong to a political party). For this reason, most candidates have not stated their party affiliation.

For the 2010 election, we’d like to make our voice heard: we support the Strong Mayor Initiative (Ballot Issue 300) as advocated by several individuals and business groups in Colorado Springs. We’re raising our voice to make it known that the issues we’ve been talking about for years are largely due to the fact that our City Manager/City Council system of City Government isn’t working.

Colorado Springs needs a full-time mayor, and it needs to pay well for a competent, skilled, professional Mayor who can truly dedicate himself (or herself) to the city and the complicated issues we’re facing at a time like this. Did you know that the Colorado Springs’ Mayor’s position is currently a part-time position? We’ve found that most citizens aren’t aware of this. Don’t you agree that Colorado Springs deserves more than a part time staff running it?

Taxpayers for Budget Reform has always been about sensible budget management and reform, and a large part of this includes cutting wasteful spending. But it also means spending money when the time is right as well. For example, we believe that we need to pay a strong Mayor well in order to attract the right kind of talent. So although there are some in the media claiming that it would cost more to have a strong Mayor (which is true, and necessary), the net result will be a boon to our economy: having the right elected official can make all the difference in the job market, as well as the ability to finally hold one official accountable for the decisions made within city hall.

Ask yourself this question: “who runs Colorado Springs?” This is a question most citizens have wondered, and it’s not being asked often enough. Who runs our city? Is it the City Council? The Mayor? The City Manager? A combination of all the above? Having a strong, full-time Mayoral government will help to start answering these questions. It’s our bet that half the confusion during local elections is simply due to the fact that we have such a confusing governmental structure that most people don’t even understand who does what.

So while Ballot Issue 300 may not be perfect, it’s a step in the right direction. We need a figurehead in Colorado Springs that we can count on, and hold accountable, and expect results from, instead of a complicated slew of part-time officials who can all point the finger elsewhere and say “it’s not my job.”

–Editor

Colorado Springs has three big ballot issues this year: one regarding revenue retention for infrastructure repairs, one regarding the Trails Parks and Open Spaces (TOPS) program, and one involving amending the City Charter to allow for a strong Mayoral form of government. Click on the image below to view all three ballot issues on the City’s website. Please take some time to educate yourself about the different issues and vote according to what you think is in our City’s (and our citizens’) best interest.