Fort Collins Now
September 2007
It’s budget time. For the next few months, the Fort Collins City Council will be discussing the 2008-2009 city budget and soliciting feedback from citizens.
It’s time to make your voice heard. What are your priorities?
Remember, this is a budget that, according to the city manager, “is about as lean as it can get.” So lean, in fact, that city staff was proposing a new tax to pay for the “urgent need” for new police officers.
The question arises: If hiring 28 new police officers is an “urgent need” to the point where the city was proposing a special tax to pay for them, wouldn’t hiring the first few of those 28 officers be an urgent enough need to rearrange the general fund budget?
Why should this be an all-or-nothing, we’ve-got-to-raise-taxes proposal? Can’t we address the problem one officer at a time? Surely there are line items in the proposed budget that are less important than hiring a few more police officers. The City Manager admitted as much two weeks ago. When City Councilmember Diggs Brown pressed the City Manager in the August 28 Work Session: “Is there nothing on that list [the budget] that is less important than fire and police,” the City Manager’s response was: “Of course there are less important services on that list than police and fire.”
So what exactly are those “less important services?” Hiring, training and equipping a new police officer costs about $120,000 a year. Two weeks ago, I wrote a column going through some of our current budget line items to find money for new police officers. There’s even more opportunity in the proposed 2008-2009 city budget.
You too can play the game. Go to www.fcgov.com and take a look at the proposed city budget. For every $120,000 you can find, we could hire and equip a new police officer.
Want a few examples? How about the more than $650,000 we spend every year on “Excellence in Environmental Planning?” There aren’t any specifics listed in the public version of the budget, but we’re assured that “The skills and expertise of staff in the Natural Resources Department’s Environmental Services Division are combined to comprehensively and efficiently address air quality, climate protection, waste reduction and recycling, and environmental education and outreach to the public, in support of existing City environmental policies.” That’s five new police officers right there. You choose: “Environmental education” or another police officer? “Climate” or crime?
Or how about $130,000 so the city can “explore and propose a structure for a City trash utility”? For the cost of hiring a police officer, the city is planning to set up a government-run monopoly for trash hauling. Not only will this drive two locally owned companies out of business, it will also allow the government to arbitrarily raise your rates. (And don’t think that the folks at Natural Resources aren’t going to find new and innovative ways to fine you if they determine you’re not doing a good enough job separating out your cans, bottles, plastics, newspapers, compost, electronics, light bulbs, batteries, cardboard, leaves, magazines or whatever they might dream up.) Apparently, this is more important than hiring an extra police officer.
There’s more. There’s the $52,500 that they inserted for “Neighborhood Street Tree Replacement.” There’s the $42,000 they’re spending on “FC Bikes.” Go ahead, take a look for yourself.
Fort Collins citizens are forced to make hard decisions every day. If you’re not earning enough money to cover the bills, you set priorities and cut out some of the extras. Usually, the first priority is to make sure your family is safe and secure.
Write your Councilmember. Attend a City Council meeting. If the city staff is unwilling to identify what those “less important services” are, citizens should. If the new majority on City Council is unwilling to put the safety of the citizenry ahead of even some of the fluff that’s in the proposed budget, they need to hear from you.
September 2007
It’s budget time. For the next few months, the Fort Collins City Council will be discussing the 2008-2009 city budget and soliciting feedback from citizens.
It’s time to make your voice heard. What are your priorities?
Remember, this is a budget that, according to the city manager, “is about as lean as it can get.” So lean, in fact, that city staff was proposing a new tax to pay for the “urgent need” for new police officers.
The question arises: If hiring 28 new police officers is an “urgent need” to the point where the city was proposing a special tax to pay for them, wouldn’t hiring the first few of those 28 officers be an urgent enough need to rearrange the general fund budget?
Why should this be an all-or-nothing, we’ve-got-to-raise-taxes proposal? Can’t we address the problem one officer at a time? Surely there are line items in the proposed budget that are less important than hiring a few more police officers. The City Manager admitted as much two weeks ago. When City Councilmember Diggs Brown pressed the City Manager in the August 28 Work Session: “Is there nothing on that list [the budget] that is less important than fire and police,” the City Manager’s response was: “Of course there are less important services on that list than police and fire.”
So what exactly are those “less important services?” Hiring, training and equipping a new police officer costs about $120,000 a year. Two weeks ago, I wrote a column going through some of our current budget line items to find money for new police officers. There’s even more opportunity in the proposed 2008-2009 city budget.
You too can play the game. Go to www.fcgov.com and take a look at the proposed city budget. For every $120,000 you can find, we could hire and equip a new police officer.
Want a few examples? How about the more than $650,000 we spend every year on “Excellence in Environmental Planning?” There aren’t any specifics listed in the public version of the budget, but we’re assured that “The skills and expertise of staff in the Natural Resources Department’s Environmental Services Division are combined to comprehensively and efficiently address air quality, climate protection, waste reduction and recycling, and environmental education and outreach to the public, in support of existing City environmental policies.” That’s five new police officers right there. You choose: “Environmental education” or another police officer? “Climate” or crime?
Or how about $130,000 so the city can “explore and propose a structure for a City trash utility”? For the cost of hiring a police officer, the city is planning to set up a government-run monopoly for trash hauling. Not only will this drive two locally owned companies out of business, it will also allow the government to arbitrarily raise your rates. (And don’t think that the folks at Natural Resources aren’t going to find new and innovative ways to fine you if they determine you’re not doing a good enough job separating out your cans, bottles, plastics, newspapers, compost, electronics, light bulbs, batteries, cardboard, leaves, magazines or whatever they might dream up.) Apparently, this is more important than hiring an extra police officer.
There’s more. There’s the $52,500 that they inserted for “Neighborhood Street Tree Replacement.” There’s the $42,000 they’re spending on “FC Bikes.” Go ahead, take a look for yourself.
Fort Collins citizens are forced to make hard decisions every day. If you’re not earning enough money to cover the bills, you set priorities and cut out some of the extras. Usually, the first priority is to make sure your family is safe and secure.
Write your Councilmember. Attend a City Council meeting. If the city staff is unwilling to identify what those “less important services” are, citizens should. If the new majority on City Council is unwilling to put the safety of the citizenry ahead of even some of the fluff that’s in the proposed budget, they need to hear from you.
