Reprieve granted on fee hikes, Dial-A-Ride cuts

Fort Collins City Council has passed onto residents the benefits of the budget breathing-room that resulted when voters approved a ballot issue creating an independent library taxing district.

Formation of the library district freed up $3.8 million the city otherwise would have provided for library services from the general fund budget. That windfall enabled the council to at least temporarily postpone a pair of proposed fees that would have raised about $3.2 million.

The parks and transportation maintenance fees--in concert with nearly $4.4 million in budget and service reductions--were proposed to close an expected $7.9 million deficit in the 2007 general fund budget.

The council also offered a partial reprieve to the elderly and disabled who emotionally appealed proposed cuts in the Dial-A-Ride program that would have discontinued service to 84 of the paratransit service's 2,000 clients.