There is a budget lesson hiding in Manitou Springs, and it is not complicated.
Do not build city hall’s comfort plan on a revenue stream that can get up and move next door. That is especially true when the revenue stream is a sin tax, which is government’s favorite way of saying, “We disapprove of this behavior, but we also hope it pays for snow removal.”
Manitou Springs residents are now looking at a city budget problem and responding with a pretty normal, pretty sane message:
Do not balance this on the backs of homeowners.
And do not start the knife fight with firefighters.
The Gazette reports that a Manitou Springs budget survey found residents were much more open to tax increases aimed at visitors than at residents. The city has been dealing with a budget shortfall that was expected to exceed $4 million, mainly after recreational marijuana sales were approved in neighboring Colorado Springs and Manitou’s two dispensaries lost significant sales. Among 583 survey responses, 69 percent supported a lodging tax increase and 67 percent supported an amusement tax increase, while 75 percent opposed a property tax increase. Respondents were also most supportive of preserving firefighting, emergency medical services, public works like snow removal, and parks.
Translated into normal-person English: people know somebody has to pay the bills.
They just do not want City Hall treating homeowners like an endless ATM with a mailbox. That is not anti-government. That is not anti-community. That is common sense wearing shoes.
Manitou Springs is not just a town. It is a destination. Visitors matter. Tourism matters. Shops, restaurants, attractions, hotels, and events help give the place its rhythm and personality.
So it is not crazy for residents to ask whether some of the costs of being a destination should be carried by the people who come enjoy the destination.
Visitors are not villains.
But neither are locals who already pay property taxes, utility bills, insurance, groceries, repairs, and the thousand little Colorado costs that show up like raccoons in the garage.
Property taxes hit people whether or not their paycheck kept up. They hit retirees. They hit young families. They hit working folks who bought a home and then discovered that “homeownership” is Latin for “surprise expense.”
And when the budget gets tight, government has a bad habit of letting bureaucratic gravity take over. Everything drifts toward more money from the same people.
That is when citizens have to say, politely but firmly, “Sharpen the pencil first.”
A shortfall means choices. Choices reveal priorities.
Public safety is one of the things local government is actually supposed to do. Firefighters, emergency response, snow removal, streets, parks, basic services. These are not luxury add-ons. They are the meat and potatoes.
They should not become bargaining chips to scare people into accepting tax hikes.
The deeper warning here is about dependency.
When a city gets too comfortable relying on one special revenue source, especially one tied to marijuana sales, tourism, tickets, or anything else that can shift with politics, competition, or consumer habits, it is not building stability. It is building a budget on a barstool.
And barstools wobble.
Manitou residents seem to understand that better than governments sometimes expect. They are not saying services do not matter. They are saying priorities matter. They are saying fairness matters. They are saying local government works best when it remembers who is carrying the load.
That is a healthy instinct.
Citizens do not have to be angry to be firm.
They just have to keep reminding City Hall that before you ask homeowners for more, you had better prove you have done the hard work with what you already have.
Source: The Gazette
Share your thoughts...