Fort Collins residents face new fees to balance budget

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Fort Collins homeowners soon will dig a little deeper, paying an additional $43 a year as their share of the tab to plug a $7.9 million hole in the 2007 city budget.

After months of tedious and anguished debate, the city council this month is expected to adopt the revised $97.4 million general fund budget that finances most of the city's everyday operations. It was brought into balance with some $3.6 million in fresh revenues from newly imposed parks and transportation maintenance fees and more than $4.3 million in budget reductions.

The revenue infusion will come from a new transportation maintenance fee expected to generate $2.3 million annually and a parks maintenance fee estimated to generate $880,000. The transportation fee would be assessed to homeowners and businesses based on their size and type. The parks fee would be assessed to homeowners only.

The city also expects to receive $437,000 in taxes and fees resulting from the annexation of the Southwest Enclave. It will go directly to the police department to provide the expected level of law enforcement required in the area.

On the spending side, the savings resulted from more than two dozen cuts and improvements in efficiency. They ranged from a $1 million reduction in planned employee salary increases to a $174,000 reduction in library services. The council also shaved $37,000 from the Fourth of July celebration expenses.

But the biggest and most emotional debate by far centered on a $600,000 reduction in the Dial-a-Ride service that provides low-cost transportation to elderly and disabled people. Dial-a-Ride currently exceeds the federal Americans With Disabilities Act requirements by providing service within Fort Collins' larger growth management area rather than only the more compact city limits. As a consequence, however, the service has experienced greater budget-busting costs with each ride costing an average of $21 while fares do not exceed $2.50.

The budget cut reduces Dial-a-Ride services to the ADA minimum--terminating rides for the elderly who are not disabled and imposing more geographic limits on eligible disabled users within the city.

The action would have eliminated 423 Dial-a-Ride customers living outside the ADA service area. However, supplemental funding providing for three new Transfort routes along Harmony, Timberline and East Elizabeth would serve 145 of those people. Transportation provided by the county and Foothills Gateway would serve another 68 of those, thus eliminating service to 210 passengers.