COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- March Madness may be over, but for the city of Colorado Springs, a group of mayoral hopefully went from 11 to seven and is now down to two, with the championship of this bracket to be decided May 17.
The results are in for the 2011 Colorado Springs municipal election, and there will be a run-off to determine who the city's first ever strong mayor will be.
Considering there were seven candidates in the initial mayoral race, a run-off seemed likely. A candidate had to receive more than 50 percent of the vote to be elected outright, and with the high number of candidates, the votes were bound to be split up.
Because neither Steve Bach nor Richard Skorman received more than 50 percent needed to avoid the run-off, the two will now face off in a head to head election.
So what does this mean for voters?
They will now have to vote - again - on who they want to see in the city's highest office.
The run-off will again be mail-in only, meaning the city will have to mail ballots to all active registered voters. The initial election process cost the city $480,000, and this election will cost the city the same amount. The money will come from the city's General Fund.
Some are upset about the run-off option because of the extra half-a-million dollars, which raises a few questions.
Where could the extra $480,000 have been spent?
A few folks have commented on our Facebook post about this issue. Here are a few of them:
"I think it is pretty ridiculous that our parks don't get watered grass or public bathrooms, that our roads needs work, that our schools seem to be constantly laying off teachers and our children's future, yet there seems to be no hesitation on paying $500,000 for a mayor election. I think the candidates should pay it."
"How many pot holes would $500,000.00 fill?"
"I think the first task of problem solving for Bach and Skorman ought to be how each candidate would solve the $500,000,00 election cost, and use that as their platform for the the upcoming election against each other. I figure, if either one of them can't solve this issue, how do we know they can even solve other issues?"
Another question - why doesn't popular vote in the initial election determine the winner?
We had some more Facebook users sounding off on that issue. Here are a few more comments:
"Why would we have laws approving THAT?! Yesterday's election should have been "majority rules". Ridiculous waste of $ when our city is in such financial demise..."
"Ridiculous..! What a waste of the taxpayers money, spent or not, it is still money that could be, and should be used for numerous projects that could help those less fortunate, our schools, improving the roads. Where does the authority come from that allows the city to spend our money like a drunken sailor, without allowing the people to vote on it. The popular vote should win it, 1% is still the winner."
The city does have a budget to cover some of the specific issues mentioned by some of our Facebook followers. The General Fund, which is what the city is pulling from for this election, is budgeted at more than $223 million for the year 2011.
Does that make $480,000 seem like chump change? Join our conversation on Facebook to chime in.
Ballots for the run-off election are set to go out at the end of April. City Clerk Kathryn Young pinned April 27 as a possible mail-out date. Ballots will be due May 17.
In November, 59 percent of Colorado Springs voters said yes to the idea of a strong mayor for the city, but Question 300 did not mention anything about what the cost of the election would be.
Are you okay with the city spending an additional $480,000 on another election? Leave a comment below to join the discussion and share your thoughts on this issue.