Mayor Steve Bach on Wednesday renewed his request for more transparency in Colorado Springs Utilities’ proposed $1 billion budget.

Bach asked City Council members to direct the city-owned utility to “get you and me and the public more detail” about the 2013 spending plan before a Nov. 19 public hearing, especially as it relates to Utilities’ workforce.

“We owe it to the ratepayers that we have total transparency of not only municipal government but also our other enterprises,” Bach said during his monthly meeting with council.

Colorado Springs Utilities is a four-service utility with almost a total monopoly in El Paso County. For example, more than 90 percent of the county’s population gets its electricity from Springs Utilities.

The nine-member council, acting in its capacity as the Utilities Board, oversees the utility. Under the strong-mayor form of government, the mayor is a non-voting member of the board.

Bach had a small audience when he renewed his request for more “specificity” in Utilities’ budget during the monthly Mayor’s Counsel meeting.

Only four of nine council members — Merv Bennett, Angela Dougan, Tim Leigh and Brandy Williams — attended.

Council President Pro Tem Jan Martin said several council members had other commitments and requested another time to meet. But the request was rejected, she said.

Dougan told the mayor that she’s frustrated with Utilities because she’s been asking for the same information he wants for three months.

The budget “is lumped together. You don’t understand salaries. You can’t understand pensions. You can’t even understand who goes on the water tour and who decides and who doesn’t,” she said. “That’s a little thing, but sometimes you have to start with the little.”

Bach said the city follows the guidelines of the Government Finance Officers Association and suggested that Utilities do the same.

“If you look at our budget, you see (an) organization chart for each department. You see a one-page summary of historical and projected expenses for that department. Salaries and benefits, operating costs, capital outlay. It just makes sense,” he said.

Bennett said the mayor’s request for information was “reasonable.” He offered to meet with utility executives and request a summary table of personnel or position counts and a summary of major revenues and expenditures, among other information before the public hearing.

Late Wednesday, Bennett said Chief Energy Services Officer Bruce McCormick agreed the mayor’s request was reasonable.

“He’s going to be reviewing it with his leadership team (Thursday) with the objective to make sure that they can actually accomplish that” by the public hearing, Bennett said. “I don’t have a definitive answer for you right now, but it was a very favorable response from Utilities.”

Utilities CEO Jerry Forte is out of town, Bennett said.

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Mayor Steve Bach Photo by The Gazette file