Watchdogs wanting to sniff around Colorado Mountain College’s proposed budget are finding the tax-dollar trail pretty cold. That’s because:
— The annual budget hearing is far away in Breckenridge, in the middle of the day (on June 30);
— The only copy of the budget for public review is kept at CMC’s main office in Glenwood Springs and there are no copies in Aspen, Carbondale and other college centers;
— As near as my computer click finger can determine after a 45-minute workout, the budget is nowhere to be found on CMC’s Web site;
— CMC — which is a property tax-funded college district — apparently complied with the letter of the law when it placed legal notices in local newspapers announcing the time and place for the budget hearing, but that was it (no press releases, no PSAs, no letters to the editor from CMC board members, no guest opinion in newspapers from the board president or college president — pretty much nothing other than the absolute minimum).
So, you tell me. Does it look like Colorado Mountain College doesn’t really want to go out of its way to tell taxpayers how their money is being spent and CMC doesn’t really want anyone to show up at the annual budget hearing?
Why is CMC’s budget and its approval process important? Well, the budget isn’t just a bunch of dry numbers. It can also tell us what programs are being expanded or cut; the level of services that are provided to each district in comparison to the others; goals for the future (which can include proposed tax hikes); political philosophies and more.
So, the CMC budget is a big deal and the taxpayers who fund the district deserve to be given more information than they are getting.
The most scream-worthy part of my budget-info search occurred on CMC’s Web site. I clicked that mouse like one of those little cricket noisemakers we played with as kids and never did find anything about the proposed budget. The Web site was loaded with sales pitches for the college, information on classes, employment opportunities, even articles such as “Celestial News: Summer’s Triangle,” “New biology lab in Aspen” and “Yang to Rock out Tabor, New Space Theatre.” But there was nothing I could find that explained the one thing that lots of us care about — how is our tax money being spent?
I attempted to learn more about the college’s budget process on Tuesday but the CMC folks I needed to talk to were either out of the office or the phone was busy.
Since I won’t be able to attend the June 30 budget hearing, here are some questions for the CMC board to address:
1. Why is the hearing being held in Breckenridge rather than Glenwood Springs (which is, after all, the college’s home office)?
2. Why is the budget available for public inspection only at the Glenwood Springs office?
3. Why isn’t there anything on the CMC Web site about the budget?
4. Why doesn’t the college do more to publicize the budget hearing and what’s in the budget?
If you’d like to comment on CMC’s budget, even if you have no idea what’s included in it because you can’t get your hands on one, send your comments to: Colorado Mountain College District Office, 831 Grand Ave., Glenwood Springs, CO 81601.
Lynn Burton is night editor for the Aspen Daily News. He can be reached at lburton@aspendailynews.com.
Comments
CMC staff budget input
KNCB Moore
The professional integrity of the college bureaucracy requires that it be allowed to volunteer its input when the annual budget is being drafted. The budget officer represents the interests of the CMC Board that may not use this input.
For example, the Aspen City Engineering Dept always brought up the need to complete its storm sewer system but this would take a huge amount of money that the Council wanted to spend on other projects. So, for year's, the City kept on polluting the River with its untreated run-off all the while proudly claiming that they were making the private sector being environmentally responsible.
Of course, the less said in the Aspen press about this the better.
It will be too late to attend the CMC budget hearing in Breckenridge because the staff input is over. A reporter might ask if Minutes on this input were tape recorded.
No one will take the time to really understand the public sector budget process and the elected officials like it this way.