Presented by: Go Team!

Sick of paying for city taxes Want their city government to make cut

backs "Let's start cutting stupid programs that

cost taxpayers a pot of money," says Tim Austin, a 48-year-old former home builder now looking for a new line of work. "It's so bullying and disrespectful to take money from one man's pocket and put it in another's."

Shrinking police departmentPut city utility up for saleDebating whether or not to sell

municipal hospitalSlash salaries and benefits of city

employees

Taxi drivers to be “second set of eyes” for police force

Residents can pay $100 a year to adopt a street light

Volunteers organizing to empty trash cans

One community center will soon be run by a church

Boosters think the moves by Colorado Springs will be adopted elsewhere. "We're a model of how cities can creatively adapt to budget adversity," says Sean Paige, a self-described libertarian on the city council. "You can have great quality of life without a great big government at the heart of it."

Many vacant positions are now goneEncouraging early retirementReducing park maintenanceCutting firefighters and police jobsCity buses no longer run on

weekends and nightsTurning off 1/3 of streetlightsParks losing trash collectionsClosing community centers

Residents can pay $100 to adopt a street light

An evangelical church has agreed to operate one community center.

Supporters have sponsored pizza dinners, jewelry-making lessons, bake sales and a chili cook off to try and keep another center open

The U.S. Olympic Committee donated $250,000 for sports programs

Taxi drivers are now a second set of eyes for the smaller police patrols

City officials hope to get a deal with retailers which would allow residents to get discounts on riding mowers for voluntarily grass cutting in the parks.

38 volunteer groups have been organized to empty garbage cans in neighborhood parks There is a web site which allows these

groups to communicate and post schedules

Without the community centers, there wont be anywhere for kids to go to stay out of trouble

It is hard to raise money to keep centers open

People aren't sure how long the volunteer work is going to last