Budget cuts hitting Colorado Springs police, fire agencies

(Colorado Springs-AP) -- Budget cutbacks are hitting hard at the
police and fire departments in Colorado's second-largest city.
The two departments in Colorado Springs will lose one-point-six
(m) million dollars because of the city's budget deficit.
That amounts to more than 40 percent of the almost four (m)
million dollars in cuts being made to close the gap.
But city budget manager Mike Anderson defended the cuts.
Anderson says the cuts account for just one-point-seven percent
of the public safety budget.
He also says other departments took bigger cuts.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)