Spending Spree
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10/16/2009	Myers Road improvements exceed $2 million
“It’s a ludicrous amount of money,” said anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, who as a county commissioner in 2007 voted against spending $100,000 to gravel eight miles of Myers Road. “There’s still too much blubber on the Moby Dick of county government.”
02/15/2009	Commissioner upset city forced $6.2 million project on county
Four months after El Paso County reopened its parking garage at Tejon and Costilla streets after adding three floors, county officials wonder why they bothered.
12/05/2008	City, County not enjoying Price Cuts
El Paso County is paying $3.49 a gallon for gas and $3.55 for diesel under a contract that lasts through the year. The average retail price for gas in Colorado Springs on Thursday was $1.60 per gallon, and the average for diesel was $2.66, according to figures compiled by AAA. Both are down more than $2 from the records set in July. The prices include state and federal taxes that government agencies don’t pay — 40.4 cents per gallon for gas and 44.9 cents for diesel.
12/05/2008	Budgeting error slices an additional $304,000 from next year’s
District Attorney-elect Dan May pleaded with county commissioners to reinstate $304,000 removed from his budget in recent days after an error was discovered. The additional cut brings May’s total 2009 budget reduction to $1.14 million, about 11 percent of this year’s $10.1 million spending plan.
12/01/2007	County plans 800-acre park for 2-wheel enthusiasts
The park, estimated to cost $1.1 million, would be financed by dedicated park fees paid by developers, a combination of state grants and some private fundraising. It would be run by the owner of the Aztec Raceway, Byron Wolf. A portion of the fees paid by riders would come back to county coffers, said parks director Tim Wolken.
09/21/2007	This Takes the Cake
As if paying 11-year El Paso County administrator Terry Harris $39,000 for unused sick time when he retired in January wasn’t enough, the taxpayers buy him a cake, too?
09/19/2007	Commissioner: Jay Lauer, who took job in March, won’t be back
According to his contract, signed March 27, Lauer’s yearly salary is $120,000, and he is eligible for six months’ pay and six months’ full benefits if he is fired without cause.
09/12/2007	COUNTY SQUANDERING OF YOUR MONEY
Despite 100s of such EPC abuses, Jeff Greene said we’ll soon be out of toilet paper!
09/12/2007	County Paid Vaction & Sick Pay
Your tax dollars at work --NOT
08/30/2007	A lesson in wasteful spending
In a education course, Bruce lists 42 ways county has squandered taxpayer cash
08/16/2007	Get out of rental business, Bruce says
“You aren’t really getting $20,000 a year because this on its face does not reflect all the expenses, it doesn`t address all the long-term cost, and of course it doesn`t address the issue about whether this is your core mission, which is parks, not rental housing,” Bruce told the Parks Advisory Board on Tuesday.
08/09/2007	Healthy county workers cash in
When Bruce suggested revising the policy to save taxpayers money and to encourage employees to use vacation time, his fellow commissioners and county employees quickly defended the policy, saying it is a small reward for employees who could make more elsewhere. The $1 million for the first half of the year might be the tip of the iceberg for county payouts in years to come.
05/20/2007	$10 million payout?
With a total of $250 million passing through its hands, and a nine-figure general fund budget, Mr. Greene had the audacious bad taste to threaten not to provide TOILET PAPER in public and employee restrooms, and to require citizens to "roll your own." A new low in government intimidation.
10/22/2006	"Write off" of Welfare Fraud
I was very surprised to find out that the fraud unit suddenly decided to drop the case. I asked if they needed any more proof (I had supplied everything they asked for) or anything else from me. Nope. They admitted that it was an open and shut case and that this person had illegally collected over $1,000.
10/13/2006	Sheriff Terry Maketa
Maketa shifts the blame for the poor budget management back onto the BoCC. Maketa blames the onset of the financial wows from when John Anderson was Sheriff (specifically 1998) and how it has worsened. How pathetic!
10/18/2005	Elected Official and Senior Executive Salary Report
List of county employees making more than the governor
05/07/2005	Examples of Spending Requests opposed by Commissioner Douglas