Colorado Springs approves raises, new fire, police, park ranger positions in 2023 budget

Dec. 13—The Colorado Springs City Council approved a $1 billion 2023 budget Tuesday that includes raises for employees, new police and firefighter positions, park rangers and permanent funding for a program to combat litter.

The large total budget number covers all city departments, including those that are self-supporting, such as the Colorado Springs Airport and the stormwater enterprise. The budget includes the $420 million general fund that is often the subject of public conversation and supports some basic city services, such as streets maintenance and police and fire protection.

The large portion of the general budget dedicated to police received some criticism Tuesday, from advocates who called for more work to address some of the root causes of crime.

City officials, however, praised the budget process and have favored investments in public safety.

The budget includes $14.2 million to support a 3% cost of living raise across all departments and performance raises to help with recruitment and retention. The budget also adds positions across several departments. The city has budgeted for 32 new firefighter positions to staff new stations, four new park rangers to help patrol trails, 15 additional police officer positions, and a new civilian criminal investigator and crime analyst. The budget also maintains 11 positions added during this year as part of the city's Keep It Clean program to combat litter.

Mayor John Suthers told council Tuesday the city's economy has been remarkably healthy with the gross domestic product growing from $30 billion to $40 billion in the last eight years. A healthy economy is key to a healthy city budget because it relies heavily on sales taxes.

"It really has been a remarkable period of prosperity, a lot of luck involved but a lot of hard work," he said.

The planned raises are necessary to help keep with inflation and ensure the city can hire competitively.

"Our objective for wages in the city of Colorado Springs is to always be market competitive and we have to pay very close attention to that in public safety," he said. The city is still about 50 police officers short, he said.

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The city is also well prepared for a possible recession with about $82.6 million in unrestricted general fund savings to start 2023 with the expectation it will reach about $86.8 million by the end of the year, according to the budget.

Suthers said he expects a recession could be "relatively short and relatively shallow" based on experts' projections for the community.

Several residents called on the city to rethink the percentage of the general fund going to police and pointed out numerous other needs that could help prevent crime, such as addressing hunger, poverty, addiction and mental health issues. The police receive 43% of the positions supported by the general fund. Several members also questioned police actions, including the recent alleged beating of a Black man during a traffic stop.

"This lopsided budget reflects the upside down priorities of this City Council," said Joe Mangels, a co-chair for the Colorado Springs Democratic Socialists of America. "For our communities to flourish the communities themselves must receive the necessary funding for strong social safety nets."

The community needs more investment in housing to address homelessness and higher wages to afford the housing that is available, said Jacki Othon, a co-chair for the same group.

"We must fund compassion and meet people where they are," she said.

Council President Tom Strand said in an interview the council hears public concerns and has invested in homeless outreach.

Several councilmembers supported and saved funding for the Fire Department's homeless outreach team in the 2023 budget. Members of that team have behavioral health and crisis training and work to build trust with homeless residents to move them into housing. Strand noted that mental health needs in particular are communitywide and it is difficult to recruit those professionals.