Fort Collins Now
February 2009
If you’re planning to open up a whirlyball arena in Fort Collins, the government would like a piece of the action.
No, I have no idea what a whirlyball arena is. But apparently the city does, and they charge a $55 annual fee on whirlyball arenas.
There are also city fees on pinball machines ($53 per machine, every six months), bowling alleys ($55 per year), electronic game machines ($37.50 every six months), and pool tables ($8 per table, every six months). Theaters, opera houses and “motion picture shows” have to pay $110 per year. Drive-in theaters pay $80.
There are city fees on “circuses, menageries and carnivals” ($80 per day). There’s an $80 fee for shooting galleries. And if you’re running an operation that features ring games, ball-and-puppet games or knife boards, you owe the city $37.50 every six months.
If you run an alarm business, the city singles you out for a $50 fee, a $25 annual renewal fee, a $50 annual fee for your “special contractor” license, and $10 for a certificate of compliance. (And $75 for your license application). Electrical contractors have to pay a $50 annual fee. Plumbers pay $50 per year. Contractors pay a $200 fee for their license every two years (and also have to pay a $75 application fee). Of course, in Fort Collins, each of a contractor’s projects needs a designated supervisor (supervisor certificate: $25, supervisor certificate exam: $75).
Solid waste or recycling companies pay $30 per vehicle. Clearance sales or “fire sales” pay a $250 annual fee. Pawnbrokers pay a $300 fee each year. Secondhand stores pay $100. Outdoor vendors pay $10 per month.
Want to build a house? The city adds more than $20,000 in fees for a $200,000 house on a 10,000 square foot lot. That average home pays a community parkland fee of $1,869, a fire services fee of $201, a police fee of $139, a library fee of $560, a neighborhood parkland fee (different from community parkland) of $1,677, a building permit fee of $2,694, a “plan check” fee of $443.95, an electronic development fee of $2,680, a water plant investment fee of $4,330, a wastewater plant investment fee of $3,194 and a stormwater investment fee of $507.35 (assuming that your lot has a 0.5 runoff coefficient).
This is all before someone actually moves into the house and begins paying taxes and utilities. Oh, and they also hit up that new house for a “general government services fee” of $254. (Hmmm… a fee for “general government services”? Just don’t call it a tax. Otherwise, you’d have to go to the voters for approval.)
There are a lot of ideas being tossed around about how to “stimulate” the economy. Most involve the government spending more money. What would happen to the economy of Fort Collins if we declared a one-year moratorium on business fees? What would happen to our construction industries if we had a six-month window where the fees on new houses were cut in half?
Heck, what would happen to our retailers if we declared a one-month sales tax holiday?
Of course, that would mean that the government would have less money to spend. But you’d have a few extra dollars to craft your own, personal stimulus package.
In my neighborhood, the kids stage their own Fourth of July Parade. They decorate their bikes and circle the block a few times. If there are more than 40 participants, they owe the city a $50 fee.
