Mayor delivers first ‘State of the City’ address Wednesday

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers spent part of his 100th day in office giving a lunchtime speech at Broadmoor Hall.

It was his first State of the City address as the city’s elected leader.

“The state of the city is good but it has the potential to be great,” he said.

Suthers said he’s been successful so far in his top two priorities — improving the relationship between the mayor and City Council, and investing in infrastructure improvements.

“Now it’s easier to focus on my third priority of job creation,” he said.

Suthers said the Colorado Springs area has created 6,000 new jobs this year, boosted by a 14 percent increase in tourism revenue.

Other objectives listed by Suthers include expanding tourism, building a new police substation, supplying officers with body cameras and diversifying the economy to make it less reliant on the federal government and military.

Suthers used the address as another opportunity to gain support for his sales-tax-for-streets plan on the November ballot. Voters will decide whether to raise the sales tax and generate $250 million over five years for street improvements.

Storm water projects remain a pressing need, Suthers said, and he plans to ask the City Council to suspend city employee raises for a year to raise some of the necessary money.

Because Pueblo County has long been frustrated about the city’s storm water issues affecting Fountain Creek, Suthers avoided a lawsuit by promising to spend $19 million annually.

“That’s more than we have been spending,” he said.

Suthers said the city had the necessary funds except for a shortfall of around $5 million. Delaying employee raises for a year, he said, would cover the difference.

Finally, Suthers said he would fulfill a promise made several years ago to increase the budget for transit by $1 million next year.