Back in my corporate day, and even as a small business owner in Ouray County, any time there was a plan hatched to spend more money on something there had to be a corresponding move to spend less elsewhere. Or, there had to be justification for the expense, usually demonstrating how it would more than pay for itself.

You’ll recall about three years ago the City of Ouray hired a consulting company to assess the salaries and pay of each of its employees, and compare and contrast them to compa...