Phase I of Burlingame was delivered on budget. In 2005, the City of Aspen signed a contract with Shaw Construction to deliver Burlingame Phase I at a fixed contract price of $36.4 million. In 2008, Shaw Construction delivered Phase I on budget, including approved changes made by City Council. As a result, there are now 84 affordable housing units at Burlingame.

It is true that the subsidy per unit is almost 69 percent higher now than what was expected from the winning development proposal in 2005 and other known costs at the time including land, infrastructure, engineering, etc. The subsidy number at that time was calculated at $184,455 per unit.

Now for Burlingame Phase 1, the final estimated subsidy cost is $331,567 per unit.

The principal factors which made up this increase in subsidy are:

• City Council decreased the average unit sales price to meet the needs of lower income housing applicants: Resulting subsidy increase: 38%
• City Council decided to enhance the livability and decrease the environmental impact of Burlingame Phase I: Resulting subsidy increase: 19%
• Changes to make the single family lot program workable: Resulting subsidy increase: 7%
• Project change orders: Resulting subsidy increase: 5%

The city has tracked and formally budgeted for every Burlingame cost. During the mayoral terms of Rachel Richards, Helen Klanderud and Mick Ireland, five different city councils have worked on Burlingame. All five city councils understood the costs of their decisions on the project. They had full disclosure about how much individual budget items and project changes would cost.

The city has already commissioned a formal independent audit of Burlingame Phase I. We are confident it will find that all expenses were properly and legally handled.

The total cost for Burlingame (including the not-yet-built Phases II and III that would add 145 units to Burlingame) is currently estimated at $138 million. That is an estimate of the total cost of Burlingame’s three phases and not an amount that has already been spent. The city has put together an advisory group of local development experts to create ways to reduce the cost of housing construction at Burlingame and other possible locations – including density increases and design changes. We are also looking at various partnership opportunities to lessen the use of tax dollars to deliver workforce housing to the community.

In addition, we also continue to look at ways to increase the efficacy of eligibility reviews for housing applicants, their continued eligibility to live in those deed-restricted units, and at changes that might allow the community to better use the existing housing inventory.

Look for announcements in the paper and local media on when a public meeting will be held to explain Burlingame, or "Burlingate" as they call it, further.

Sally Spaulding
Community Relations for the City of Aspen

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of Vallejo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday to deal with a ballooning budget deficit caused by soaring employee costs and declining tax revenue.

The unions say compensation for Vallejo's public safety employees is in line with that of other Bay Area cities, and blame the fiscal crisis on government mismanagement and poor decisions by previous city councils.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357881,00.html

Handwriting on the wall??????

Please, you must look at this as doing the will of the people. And Mick is the voice of the people. Who these people are I have no idea, but obviously it is self serving and won't do anything but leave a city locked in a lifetime of dept and most likely a ghost town that couldn't keep up with the changing times.

Someone is laughing all the way to the bank. I hope that the investigation takes place and is done by an independent entity and not one of the Aspen "Our Gang" otherwise what's the point. I think if some serious digging is done you will see that not only is there some serious lack of judgment, mismanagement, recklessness, grand standing, and general socialist tendencies, but also, as it is rumored on the streets, graft, kickbacks, and criminal conduct.

Last I checked elected government works is open to the public. Anyone blocking the public from finding out what their elected government is doing is obviously hiding something....hmmmm....but then again we are in the Socialist Republic of Aspen.....

Remember that Burlingshame is only the lastest in a long litany of outrages. Remember Act 30, when the Council killed property values by fiat by deeming buildings from the 1970s "historical."

Mick Ireland thinks he's Robin Hood: taking from the rich to give to the poor.