Local conservative leaders gathered Wednesday to denounce a campaign to “eviscerate” Colorado Springs’ version of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.TABOR, an amendment to the state constitution and the Colorado Springs city charter, is a formula limiting government spending. It takes the authority to impose tax increases out of the hands of lawmakers and grants it directly to citizens voting in a referendum.A proposed ballot initiative supported by City Councilman Tom Gallagher would repeal the formula but preserve the part about voter approval of tax increases. Gallagher and other supporters of the measure say the formula, by preventing city spending from growing faster than the rate of population growth plus inflation, prevents the city from rebounding after a recession like the current one.“Don’t leave us in 1997 when the economic recovery comes,” said Gallagher, standing at the edge of the small crowd assembled on the steps of City Hall, where speakers took turns deriding his proposal.“This isn’t an attempt to reform TABOR,” said Sean Paige, the organizer of the event, of Gallagher’s initiative. “This is an attempt to destroy TABOR one piece at a time.”The exact language of the proposed ballot measure has not been finalized, but Jeff Crank, state director of Americans for Prosperity, nevertheless called it “an attempt to deceive taxpayers.” He added that the city was engaged in a never-ending search for more money instead of making “the difficult, difficult decisions that governments have to make” in times of declining tax receipts.Paige, director of Local Liberty Action, a Colorado Springs-based small-government group, was also joined by representatives of four other conservative groups and a couple dozen supporters.

Janice Taylor used a sign to defend TABOR during a rally in front of City Hall on Wednesday. Photo by KIRK SPEER, THE GAZETTE