City's new mayor wants to build trust

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Doug Hutchinson expects to devote much more time cutting budgets rather than ribbons in his new role as Fort Collins' mayor.

At the same time, he also wants to mend what he sees as the severed trust between citizens and their city government--as Hutchinson believes was evidenced by voters' rejection of transportation referendums twice in the last four years.

Such trust, he said, will be essential as the newly seated council goes about a punishing process of bringing expenses back into line to avoid continued depletion of city surpluses to cover growing deficits. Hutchinson said more than 70 percent of the city's available general fund reserves already have been tapped to balance the city budget.

According to a 10-year projection prepared by the city's budget office, nearly $5.4 million in reserves was used to balance this year's $95 million general fund budget. That leaves just $1.6 million in remaining reserves to offset an estimated $6.4 million budget deficit in 2006, if spending continues at the current rate.

That budget projection shows the general fund deficit continuing to increase from $8.4 million in 2007 to nearly $15 million in 2013. While Hutchinson conceded this is only an estimate, he said, "Even if it's off quite a bit, we have a problem."

Clearly, something's got to give.

"It's going to be ugly," Hutchinson said, acknowledging that the new city council, as part of the budget-balancing process, will have to seriously consider the possibility of employee layoffs. "Shame on our council for letting us get here," he added.

But Hutchinson refuses to dwell upon the negative, constantly returning to his oft-repeated campaign pledges of providing new leadership and finding common ground. He instead characterizes Fort Collins as a "remarkably solid city" with a cash-flow problem.

It's a problem he says his career has uniquely qualified him to handle. The civilian overseer of a $34 million NORAD and U.S. Space Command budget, Hutchinson said he developed a new approach to budgeting eventually adopted by the Department of Defense. The system, he explained, directly links the allocation of resources to producing desired results. Translated into city jargon, Hutchinson said this "outcome-based budgeting" now being practiced by city manager Darin Atteberry should ensure the most essential services survive the inevitable budget cuts.

Returning in 1999 to retire in his boyhood home, the 62-year-old Hutchinson said he never intended to run for public office. But he became a "very concerned citizen" observing the low municipal election turnout. Hutchinson said he also was disturbed about the growing disengagement of residents who declined to challenge what he considered to be some questionable city council actions.

His concern led him to form a group called The Reclaimers, now known as Fort Collins Watch, to scrutinize city government and encourage greater citizen involvement. After years of attending untold hundreds of hours of meetings, Hutchinson said he finally was drawn into the mayor's race when nobody of like mind stepped up.

As a retiree, Hutchinson said he has the luxury of serving as a full-time mayor. And he intends to more efficiently dedicate that time to matters of substance, rather than being so consumed in the ceremonial activities of the previous administration. He plans to do that by instead sharing those duties with mayor pro tem Karen Weitkunat and encouraging council members to participate in such events taking place within the districts they represent.

While there may be the perception of great divisiveness among the council, Hutchinson said his initial assessment is there's much less than he expected. And although conflict is inevitable, Hutchinson said he continues to believe it can be minimized by seeking common ground and creating a civil environment among the council in which no personal attacks are tolerated.

"We really do need to do some serious work together and quit quibbling as a governing body," Hutchinson said. "I think the council needs to work hard to restore the trust of the citizens."