HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 9/22/2020 - Memorandum From Lawrence Pollack Re: Councilmember Questions And Requests From The September 8 Work Session On The 2021 Budget - Part 2
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Financial Services
215 N Mason Street
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6795
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M E M O R A N D U M
Date: September 22, 2020
To: Mayor Troxell and City Council
Through: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Travis Storin, Interim Chief Financial Officer
From: Lawrence Pollack, Budget Director
Re: Councilmember questions and requests from the September 8 work session on
the 2021 Budget – Part 2
City Council held their first work session to review the 2021 City Manager’s Recommended
Budget on September 8. Questions were asked about specific Offers, as well as some
more general inquiries about the budget. Staff responses to many of those questions that
could not be addressed during the meeting are provided below. Some of the questions
asked, however, may require additional time to adequately research and respond. The
answers to those latter questions will be included in future memos addressing Council
questions after each of the remaining budget work sessions in September and October.
Outcome: Culture and Recreation
1) Questions from Emily Gorgol and Susan Gutowski: Based on a discussion at a
recent Urban Renewal Authority (URA) board meeting, what can be done to make the
Northside Aztlan Community Center (NACC) more accessible? What could be done at
NACC to make the facility and associated programming more accessible to all areas of
the community?
Response from Bob Adams (Recreation)
Staff believes that a process (yet to be defined) to better understand this question and its
underpinnings would be helpful. Once a better understanding and appreciation for the
question can be developed, appropriate actions can then be implemented. Please note,
due to COVID-19 and staffing constraints, the process of public engagement will not be
completed in the near term but will be a priority for completion in 2021. As we prepare
for 2021, staff will reach out to some of the groups it traditionally works with, such as La
Familia, to begin to explore how the City might improve the accessibility and relevance of
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NACC. Staff is also contemplating regular quarterly meetings with entities to discuss
upcoming programs and schedules at NACC.
In the meantime, there are numerous programs within Recreation that currently facilitate
access, including the Reduced Rate Program, which continues to grow in popularity and
use; numerous cultural events; Los Ancianos; childcare, day camps and after -school
programs. Staff looks forward to the next leg in this conversation and the process of
continual improvement.
Outcome: Environmental Health
2) Requests from Ross Cunniff, Julie Pignataro and Kristin Stephens: Please provide
detail on these proposed reductions for the Climate Commitment and Air Quality
Programming Offers. Multiple Councilmembers don't support these reductions but may
be ok with targeted reductions to meals for Board and Commission meetings and
reductions to staff training, as those types of reductions are included in multiple
Reduction Offers.
Response from Lucinda Smith (Environmental Services)
Staff understands that Council wants to retain a consistent approach across the
organization about cutting board and commission meals. $1,200 would need to be
retained in two Environmental Services reduction offers offer (27.9 - Reduction: Scaled
Climate Commitment (Reduced City- and Community-Led Climate Engagement, and
27.10 - Scaled Air Quality Programming (Reduced Outreach, Engagement and
Monitoring) to maintain cuts to meals for AQAB and NRAB.
3) Question from Emily Gorgol: What other opportunities are there for alternative uses
for recycling materials that no longer have an international market?
Response from Caroline Mitchell (Environmental Services)
The materials that no longer have international markets can be grouped as “low value
plastics.” This includes party cups, plastic to-go containers, clamshell containers (such
as those that hold berries), party trays and frozen meal trays. While this has been a big
shift, those materials constitute only 2% of curbside recyclables by weight. More
information is available at these City online resources:
- Recycling webpage (https://www.fcgov.com/recycling/atoz/items/?item=27)
- Video (<2 min) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKUlMbNAlM&feature=youtu.be )
Fort Collins is an active participant in Recycle Colorado, the statewide recycling
organization, which supported recently adopted legislation that provides funding for the
Colorado Office of Economic Development to work to incentivize recycling end markets
in Colorado. This is an important long-term project and is unlikely to yield significant
changes in recycling markets in the near term.
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4) Question from Emily Gorgol: What would be included in an Enhancement Offer to
address the potentially inequitable billing of manufactured home park residents, since
there is only one water meter for the owner of the park?
Response from Theresa Connor (Utility Services)
City staff within Utilities, Neighborhood Services, and City Attorney’s Office are
committed to exploring solutions to increase transparency and equity to water billing
between manufactured housing community residents and owners. We completed an
initial assessment of regulatory/legislative and investment solutions. At this time, an
investment in infrastructure would be very complex, take substantial time, and be very
expensive for the city and rate payers. In addition, this type of approach would really
only benefit the property owner and not the residents. There may be legislative solutions
that supports tenant’s rights increases. This requires existing resources of City
leadership and engagement of Council and the State.
In addition, PDT is committed to allocating additional staff liaison resources to help
facilitate conversations, coordinate with Utilities, research best practices, and monitor
policy. To support the demand for this resource, we prepared a redeploy offer in 2021
for another Neighborhood Services outreach position that can help with these situations.
Offer ‘31.6 - Redeploy: Code Compliance Officer to Manufactured Housing Liaison’ is
recommended for funding in the Neighborhood Livability and Social Health Outcome.
Outcome: Transportation and Mobility
5) Question and request from Ross Cunniff: What is the decrease in dedicated tax
revenue (the three quarter-cents and KFCG) from the 2020 adopted budget to the 2021
forecast? Please then compare that with the Reduction Offers as sociated with those
funding sources to determine if there are reductions greater than the decline in revenue.
Response from Dave Lenz (Finance)
In response to a question about the expected decrease in dedicated sales and use tax
revenues and the associated reduction offers associated with those revenue sources,
please see the table below which breaks out the 2020 and 2021 Budgeted revenues as
well as associated reduction offer amounts.
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