December 8, 2022 Vol. 22, No. 3 Serving Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City and Lower Ute Pass
$100
City Councilors approve proposed budget for 2023 By William J. Dagendesh On Tuesday, Dec. 6, Manitou Springs City Council unanimously approved the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget and amended the annual budget for 2022. Councilors cast their votes after a second reading and public hearing. “The way it stands now, the forecasted ending General Fund/unassigned fund balance for 2023 is $8,243,706,” said Finance Director Rebecca Davis. She said the proposed budget has no sales tax to give to the Urban Renewal Authority with respect to the Holiday Inn Express, and currently has no sales tax going to the URA, only the property tax. “For 2023, there is nothing. For 2022, there is close to $400,000 that was given to the URA in the first part of the year,” Davis said. The meeting recalled the Oct. 11 special work session, when council voted 7-0 to approve submitting the proposed budget. State See COUNCIL/page 3
Warm hearts
on a cold day
Photos by Rhonda Van Pelt
An elf helps out at Manitou Springs Real Estate’s warm clothing giveaway on Saturday, Dec. 3. The community was very generous this year; most of the unclaimed items were donated to Westside CARES. See the letter to the editor on page 4.
What you need to know about the Bulletin’s future By Rhonda Van Pelt Approximately 30-35 people got a behind-thescenes look at what’s been happening, and what’s next, for the Bulletin. They attended the Dec. 1 meeting about the Pikes Peak Bulletin in the Manitou Art Center’s conference room. Amy Gillentine, the newspaper’s publisher, explained that her local career began with the Colorado Springs Business Journal in 2005. When John Weiss purchased it in 2012, she joined his company as a reporter, and after a two-year stint at
the Air Force Academy, came back as editor of the Business Journal. She took over as publisher of the CSBJ and associated papers in 2017 and took the reins of the Colorado Springs Independent in 2019. After July 2022, when Weiss decided to retire, he handed the company reins to Gillentine. That includes overseeing operations at the Indy, CSBJ, Southeast Express, the Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group and the Bulletin. “I was a reporter for most of my career, and
find myself now as publisher of the new nonprofit 6035 Media. And that (the nonprofit) is the result of about three months of extremely hard work,” she told the crowd. The nonprofit launched Nov. 1 with a board of directors including Ralph Routon, longtime Manitou resident and the Bulletin’s executive editor emeritus, and Weiss as a nonvoting member. See BULLETIN/page 5
INSIDE CLOSURES FOR CHRISTMAS PARADE.......................PAGE 4 SCHOOL BOARD HEARS FACILITIES PLAN.................PAGE 9 ATHLETES FINDING THEIR BEARINGS............. PAGES 10, 11