To:  john.suthers@coloradosprings.gov, allcouncil@coloradosprings.gov

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Dear Mayor Suthers and City Council,

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Please stop trying to restructure the Trails and Open Space tax that is currently largely dedicated to Open Space Acquisition.  This tax doesn't need to be renewed now and the next mayor should be allowed to handle it.  Why the rush?  

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While the proposed language is better than the heavily developer funded TOPS tax which voters rejected in November 2021, the structure is still the same.  The proper way to do this is to keep Open Space separate from the city parks which are supposed to be funded by the general fund.  At a minimum, to ensure that these spending appropriations stick, the only way to do that is to make this a Charter Change.  Otherwise, as Richard Skorman publicly warned, we cannot bind a future administration or council to any appropriation parameters.  

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I will vote against this again, unless you make it a Charter Change to ensure that these spending allocations stick, and add language that protects our current open spaces from being poached by developers.  Our Open Space land is non-negotiable which is why voters approved TOPS in the first place - to acquire and protect open space.

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Respectfully,

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