Fixing the City's Budget 'fix'

Mayor Michael Hancock, hopefully with the support of council, will ask the citizens of Denver to de-Bruce our city on the November ballot as part of the strategy to meet the city's budget deficit. I predict City Council will support the Mayor in putting the ballot measure to de-Bruce before the voters. And the voters, if they vote to de-Bruce, would allow the city to keep monies(about $67 million)currently being returned to voters in the form of credits under TABOR. To de-Bruce,a proper noun turned into a verb, requires a vote of the people. While our budget shortfall is about $90 million this year, the Mayor believes that allowing the city to retain this money in the city coffers would do much to alleviate the shortfall for Denver's city libraries(allowing service levels to be returned to earlier levels)and other needed city services. I suspect lots of voters don't even realize they get these credits. I am starting a survey. I agree with the Mayor and I look forward to talking with as many voters as possible to encourage them to support this move. But a possible glitch to the strategy to fix Denver's budget shortfall surfaces. Denver Public Schools is looking at putting $500 million on the ballot at the same time the city tries to de-Bruce. Nevertheless, I look forward to talking with you about these budget changes. Sounds like someone has to start working on the 'strategy' here on these issues.