Colorado Springs city councilman says proposed 2024 budget will negatively impact public safety
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Tuesday, Nov. 28, the Colorado Springs City Council will hold a second vote to approve the 2024 city budget.
District 1 City Councilman Dave Donelson said he will vote against the budget for a second time, arguing the cuts outlined in the proposal will hinder the Colorado Springs Police Department's (CSPD) ability to respond to public safety situations in the city.
"My concerns with this budget are that we cut everything the same amount across all departments in the city," said Donelson. "I don't think each department is equally important. They're all important, but when when candidates run for mayor, or for city council, they always say public safety is number one, and in public safety, pretty much police."
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade's proposed budget requires each city department to cut 3.4% of their spending in 2024 including the Colorado Springs Police Department.
According to the city budget, CSPD will only make "operationally necessary purchases" and they will "reduce the number of training academy recruits in each class during 2024."
In a previous city council meeting, CSPD Chief Adrian Vasquez also said the police department will reduce the number of overtime hours they pay.
"I think it's very interesting that after the mayor and others were out pleading for citizens to give up their TABOR retention because it was so important to build this new training center because we need police officers," said Donelson. "Right now, we're about to vote the second time on this budget, and in there, the police chief is telling us they're going to cut the size of the classes in 2024."
However, the mayor and the police department say they feel confident this budget allocates enough money to the police department to ensure continued public safety.
In a statement from CSPD, a spokesperson wrote:
“CSPD believes the current budget includes enough overtime funding to fill all overtime hours needed to meet staffing levels, address immediate safety concerns, as well as overtime funding for some directed activities. The key to additional patrols and shifts is not budget but reaching authorized strength, and the city remains focused on meeting that goal. The reductions to operations and maintenance are focused on things such as delaying expansion of the impound lot, and other non-essential purchases.”
Colorado Springs Police Department spokesperson
A statement from the Mayor's office echoes those sentiments:
CSPD believes the current budget includes enough overtime funding to fill all overtime hours needed to meet staffing levels, address immediate safety concerns, as well as overtime funding for some directed activities. I trust the Police Chief and his team in making that determination. We've been working with Councilmembers throughout the budget process, and the vast majority have been aligned with the direction we’ve proposed. We are listening to residents who are asking for increased attention to public safety by increasing pay by 4% for all sworn officers and everyone in our Emergency Communication Center, moving to year round training academies to get to authorized strength, and funding additional behavioral and health resources.
Mayor Yemi Mobolade
CSPD also told KRDO13 they will not be rejecting qualified training candidates due to budgetary concerns. Instead, they believe the training classes will be smaller due to fewer applications coming in from qualified candidates.
The city council will vote on this again next Tuesday. Donelson hopes the city council will table the vote for a later date and create a budget more suited to the wishes of citizens.
Donelson said he has heard from many citizens who would like to see more police presence to prevent street racing, speeding, and reckless driving situations. He said the current budget will prevent that additional police presence from being achieved.
