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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 09/02/2014 - RESOLUTION 2014-079, SUPPORTING THE REFERRED BALLOAgenda Item 12 Item # 12 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY September 2, 2014 City Council STAFF John Stokes, Natural Resources Director SUBJECT Resolution 2014-079, Supporting the Referred Ballot Measure to Renew the Help Preserve Open Spaces Sales and Use Tax. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to inform Council about the November 4, 2014, ballot measure to extend the Help Preserve Open Space tax, Larimer County's quarter-cent sales and use tax that supports County and local open lands program, including the City's Natural Areas Department. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Help Preserve Open Space (HPOS) is a quarter-cent sales tax collected by Larimer County that provides funds “to protect open space, natural areas, wildlife habitat, regional parks, and trails.” (http://www.co.larimer.co.us/openlands/) The County Open Lands program has conserved over 43,000 acres and provides over 80 miles of trails. The Fort Collins Natural Areas Department has received funding through the County tax program to conserve over 35,000 acres accessible to the public and over 100 miles of trail. HPOS expires in 2018. In view of the expiration of the tax, Larimer County conducted an extensive year-long exploration of the future of open lands programs throughout the County, the Our Lands Our Future (OLOF) project. The study was conducted by Larimer County in partnership with local municipal governments, including Fort Collins. Polling data collected through the project demonstrated strong support for continued land conservation and recreation programs on a County-wide basis, as well as in Fort Collins. The full OLOF report is available at: <http://larimer.org/ourlands_ourfuture/> Following the study, a sub-committee of the County's Open Lands Board met to assess the financial needs of Larimer County for future management of existing open space lands and acquisition and management of new lands. The committee was composed of citizens who worked on previous HPOS measures, a Fort Collins City Councilmember (Gerry Horak who is an appointed member to the County’s open lands board), County staff, members of the County’s Open Lands Advisory Board and the County’s Parks Advisory Board, and Legacy Land Trust. The sub-committee ultimately recommended a 25-year extension of HPOS. On July 8, 2014, Natural Areas staff apprised Council of the options being considered at the County for extension of HPOS at a Council work session. Councilmembers generally expressed support for continuation of the tax during that discussion. On July 29, based on the sub-committee’s advice, the Larimer County Commissioners unanimously adopted County Resolution No. 07292014R002, approving referral of a ballot measure for the November 4, 2014, coordinated election to extend HPOS (Attachment 1). If approved by the voters, the extension would be implemented in 2019 and extend the tax through December 31, 2043. Agenda Item 12 Item # 12 Page 2 The financial implications of the proposed ballot measure are described in the section below. In addition to potential financial changes, the proposed ballot discontinues the requirement that an elected official from Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, and Berthoud be appointed to a citizen advisory board. Instead, the ballot measure requires that the County Commissioners appoint an advisory board of at least 9 members based on interests, geography, and location. FINANCIAL / ECONOMIC IMPACTS The Natural Areas Department receives approximately 37% of its revenues from the HPOS tax. In 2013 these revenues amounted to $3,814,000. The proposed ballot measure would continue funding for the Department, although revenues received by the City will be reduced by approximately $530,000 annually beginning in 2019. Natural Areas staff modeled the long-range financial implications of the revenue reduction under the ballot measure. The model demonstrates that while there are negative impacts to the Natural Areas Department, those impacts can be somewhat mitigated with adjustments to the long-term budget, in a particular adjustments to operations, maintenance, and capital programs. The majority of HPOS revenues the City receives are applied to the Natural Area Department’s core operations, maintenance, and capital programs. The allocation to operations, maintenance and capital is due, in part, to spending restrictions contained in the City’s Open Space, Yes! quarter-cent sales tax. The City has applied the combination of Open Space, Yes! and HPOS revenues for land conservation and providing public amenities and services. The City and County natural areas and open lands programs have aligned resources and HPOS funding on multiple occasions to provide community land conservation improvements. Passage of the ballot measure and extension of the HPOS tax will provide future opportunities for the City and Larimer County to collaborate on similar joint conservation efforts, e.g., the Blue Sky trail that links Horsetooth Mountain Park, the Devils Backbone in Loveland, and Coyote Ridge in Fort Collins. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Passage of the proposed ballot measure would allow the County to conserve up to 36,000 additional acres of land. It also would allow the City to continue its land conservation, restoration, recreation, and management efforts. BOARD / COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION The Land Conservation and Stewardship Board has reviewed and provided Council with advisory analysis of the proposed ballot measure (Attachment 2). PUBLIC OUTREACH The Our Lands Our Future project conducted over a year’s worth of public outreach. Natural Areas Department staff was involved in that effort and made regular reports to the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board. In addition, the Department has been updating its Master Plan and shared information with the public about the role of HPOS in regional land conservation since adoption of the tax. City Council considered the proposed extension at its August 8 work session. ATTACHMENTS 1. Resolution Open Space signed (PDF) 2. LCSB - HPOS Memo to Council (PDF) Natural Areas Department 1745 Hoffman Mill Road PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.416.2815 970.416.2211 - fax fcgov.com/naturalareas Memorandum To: City Councilmembers From: Land Conservation and Stewardship Board Date: August 19, 2014 Re: Support for the proposed extension of Help Preserve Open Space At its July 9th, 2014 meeting, the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board (Board) unanimously adopted a motion urging City Council to support the proposed extension of Help Preserve Open Space (HPOS), Larimer County’s ¼ cent sales tax that provides substantial funding to the City’s Natural Areas Department (Department). On July 29th in a unanimous vote, Larimer County Commissioners formally referred the proposed extension to the November ballot. The Board strongly supports the proposed 25-year extension which will continue to provide critical funding to the City’s Natural Areas Department. Larimer County has been an outstanding partner with the City – and the Board expects that to continue and perhaps even to be strengthened by the proposed ballot measure. The Board believes that the Larimer County Open Lands program needs additional funding to manage its portfolio of conserved lands, as well as lands it plans to acquire in the future. The proposed ballot measure was developed in collaboration with citizen activists (who were responsible for the citizen-initiated 1995 and 1999 HPOS ballot measures); a subcommittee of the County’s Open Lands Board, and others. For the last several years, Larimer County and its municipal partners, including Fort Collins, conducted an extensive study to help determine what citizens want for the future of open space protection. The great majority of citizens strongly support continued action by the County and the City to conserve land as well as to provide appropriate recreational opportunities. As noted, the County and the City have a long history of collaboration. Properties such as Fossil Creek Reservoir Natural Area; Red Mountain Open Space; Devils Backbone Open Space; Long View Farm Open Space and many conservation easements were acquired jointly. In addition, the County and City partner on resource management issues, public safety, and volunteer programs. An extension of HPOS will help strengthen and continue these collaborations. In addition, the revenue that is shared with the City is critical to the City’s ability to manage and operate its system of conserved lands. HPOS revenue represents about 1/3rd of the Natural Areas Department budget; clearly a continuation of those revenues is in the best interest of Fort Collins citizens. Thank you for your consideration of this recommendation, and please do not hesitate to contact Trudy Haines, Board Chair, for any additional information that may be desired. - 1 - RESOLUTION 2014-079 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS SUPPORTING THE REFERRED BALLOT MEASURE TO RENEW THE HELP PRESERVE OPEN SPACES SALES AND USE TAX WHEREAS, in November 1995, the citizens of Larimer County approved the Help Preserve Open Spaces Sales and Use Tax (the "Tax"), a one quarter of one percent sales and use tax that provides funds for the "acquisition, protection, improvement and long-term maintenance of open space, natural areas, wildlife habitat, parks and trails"; and WHEREAS, the citizens of Larimer County passed Initiated Issue 100 on November 2, 1999, which extended the Tax through the year 2018 and authorizing Larimer County to issue revenue bonds to accelerate land protection programs; and WHEREAS, the Tax provides funding for Larimer County and each municipality in the County to implement open land protection, trails, parks, and other programs for the benefit of the citizens of the County; and WHEREAS, the Tax has made it possible to protect over 43,000 acres of natural areas, open spaces, wildlife habitats and agricultural lands, and over 80 miles of regional trails in the County; and WHEREAS, the Tax has been used by Larimer County, the City of Fort Collins, and other municipalities to protect natural areas and other open lands, provide recreational facilities, and create environmental education and interpretation opportunities for all citizens of the County; and WHEREAS, the citizens of Larimer County continue to express strong support and a high demand for open space and natural areas protection, trails, and recreation facilities; and WHEREAS, in 2013, the County began a study regarding the future of open land programs through the County, known as the “Our Lands Our Future” study; and WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the study, a sub-committee of the County’s Open Lands Board met to assess the County’s financial needs for management of existing open space lands, as well as acquisition and management of new lands; and WHEREAS, following their assessment review, the County sub-committee recommended to the Larimer County Commissioners that a 25-year extension of the Tax to December 31, 2043, be presented to the citizens of Larimer County; and WHER EAS, on July 29, 2014, based on the sub-committee’s recommendation, the Larimer County Commissioners unanimously approved County Resolution No. 07292014R002, referring to the November 4, 2014, ballot a measure to extend the Tax, which upon approval by the voters would be implemented in 2019; and - 2 - WHEREAS, in addition to extending the Tax, the referred ballot measure removes the current citizen advisory board comprised of elected official appointed from Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, and Berthoud, replacing that board with a nine-member advisory board whose members are appointed by the County Commissioners based on interests, geography, and location; and WHEREAS, approval of the referred ballot measure would provide an ongoing source to partially fund City of Fort Collins programs to protect and enhance important natural areas and open lands and to provide trails and other facilities for public use and enjoyment; and WHEREAS, approval of the referred ballot measure would continue support for ongoing conservation partnerships between the City of Fort Collins, Larimer County, and other regional entities. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the Council of the City of Fort Collins endorses the ballot measure referred by the Larimer County Commissioners under County Resolution No. 07292014R002 to extend the Help Preserve Open Spaces Sales and Use Tax for an additional 25 years beginning in 2019, and encourages the citizens of Fort Collins and Larimer County to vote "yes" on the measure in the November 4, 2014 Larimer County Coordinated Election. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 2nd day of September, A.D. 2014. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk