HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 11/03/2025 - Memorandum from Josh Birks re Follow-Up: October 14 Council Work Session: Environmental Services BudgetSustainability Services Area
222 Laporte Avenue
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO,80522
970-221-6324
CC: Caleb Weitz, Chief Financial Officer
Honore Depew, Senior Manager, Environmental Services
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MEMORANDUM
Date: October 30, 2025
To: Mayor and Councilmembers
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sustainability Services
From: Josh Birks, Deputy Director, Sustainability Services, jbirks@fcgov.com
Subject: Follow-Up: October 14 Council Work Session: Environmental Services Budget
At the October 14, 2025, Council Work Session there was a request for additional information
regarding: (1) General Fund contributions to the City’s climate initiatives related to the non-
supplanting clauses in the 2050 Tax ballot language, and (2) additional clarification on why the
elimination of two Sustainability Services positions will not negatively impact the current work on
Council Priorities related to climate goals.
BOTTOM LINE
Funding by the General Fund for climate initiatives remains higher under the revised 2026
budget than it did in 2023 prior to the adoption of the 2050 Tax. Staff will assign staff capacity
first to Council Priorities on climate initiatives to minimize the impact from eliminated positions.
DISCUSSION
Sustainability Services staff recognize the importance of ensuring that all 2050 Tax Climate
funding is expended per ballot language to supplement and does not supplant prior General
Fund support. To that end, the General Fund level of support for climate initiatives in 2023 of
$428,687 has been established as the base level at which General Fund must continue to
Docusign Envelope ID: 8F5FEE21-1ACA-48CA-A68C-D1C69847C1C4
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comply with 2050 Tax ballot language. Even with the proposed adjustments in the 2026
Environmental Services budget the total general fund contribution towards climate initiatives will
increase to $482,348 (see Figure 1).
FIGURE 1 – ESD GENERAL FUND CLIMATE SPENDING
Elimination of two Environmental Services positions will not negatively impact the current work
on Council Priorities related to climate goals for the following reasons:
The reassignment of a position from elsewhere in the service area offsets the lost Data
Analyst position. There is no negative impact to ESD work from this eliminated
position. Hourly support has been hired to provide additional temporary support during
transition.
The impact to ESD capacity comes from the reassignment of a Lead Specialist.
Docusign Envelope ID: 8F5FEE21-1ACA-48CA-A68C-D1C69847C1C4
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The reduction of a General Fund 1.0 FTE will reduce the department’s overall capacity
for project management by approximately 25%.
Each year, Sustainability Services develops a work plan. A major part of that planning process
is aligning available staff capacity with Council Priorities. To avoid negative impacts on Council
Priorities related to climate initiatives, ESD management will assign staff capacity first to Council
Priorities then to other work. In this way, the impact to climate initiatives that are part of
Council’s Priorities should be minimally impacted.
Docusign Envelope ID: 8F5FEE21-1ACA-48CA-A68C-D1C69847C1C4