HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 07/23/2019 - LARIMER COUNTY PROPOSED REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION TADATE:
STAFF:
July 23, 2019
Chad Crager, Interim Deputy Director of PDT
WORK SESSION ITEM
City Council
THIS ITEM HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE AGENDA
SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
Larimer County Proposed Regional Transportation Tax for the November 2019 Ballot.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this work session is to update Council on the plans that Larimer County has in proposing a regional
transportation and County facility tax for this upcoming November 2019 ballot.
Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson and Larimer County Manager Linda Hoffman will be presenting at
this Work Session.
GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
This is an opportunity for Council to provide feedback and ask questions directly of Larimer County Commissioner
Steve Johnson and County Manager Linda Hoffman.
1. Is Council supportive, neutral, or opposed to the upcoming Larimer County regional tax initiative?
2. Does City Council support a measure to fund the Transit Master Plan?
BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
The City of Fort Collins has collaborated with Larimer County and other local agencies since early 2018 on a county-
wide project to develop regional transportation solutions. A list of projects was generated that would compete for
funding as a result of the proposed Larimer County Regional Tax Initiative. There are 43 projects on the list from
across the County and they were evaluated and prioritized based on five criteria:
Connectivity. Does the project complete a link between communities or between major corridors?
Multimodal. Would the project improve accommodation for multiple travel modes?
Congestion relief. Would the project address an existing congestion problem?
Safety mitigation. Would the project address a documented safety problem?
Project Reach. How wide-reaching is the project and how many people would be impacted by the project?
In addition to a ¼ cent tax for transportation, an additional ¼ cent tax is also being considered for County facilities.
This results in a total proposed County sales tax increase of ½-cent tax that may be on the November ballot.
Connectivity 25%
Multimodal 15%
Congestion Relief 25%
Safety Mitigation 25%
Project Reach 10%
100%
Criteria Weighting
July 23, 2019 Page 2
Staff Concerns
While City Staff agrees in working with our regional partners to find solutions to transportation issues, City staff has
reviewed the proposed initiative and project list and has the following concerns:
1. Lack of flexibility of the project list. Inevitably, over a twenty-year horizon, priorities and projects will change
and other funding sources may become available. A ballot-mandated project list does not allow the County and
the communities to react to changing technologies, new funding sources, and new priorities.
2. Inequitable distribution of projects. It is projected that 52% of sales tax receipts from this proposal will be
collected within the City of Fort Collins. Approximately 30% of the distribution would be within the city limits.
Nearby projects have indirect benefit to Fort Collins, but do not make up the difference.
3. Lack of transit solutions. The City Council priority regarding Transportation is to encourage and increase
Transfort use/additional bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors. The proposed transportation tax doesn’t reflect this
priority.
4. Lack of public outreach.
In addition, the ¼ cent County Facility Tax was recently added with little discussion with County communities.
ATTACHMENTS
1. County Regional Transportation Infrastructure Projects Map (PDF)