HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 11/4/2020 - Memorandum From Amy Resseguie Re: 2021 Budget Feedback
Communications & Public Involvement
215 N. Mason St.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.2209
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
DATE: November 2, 2020
TO: Mayor and City Councilmembers
THROUGH: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager
Tyler Marr, Interim Information & Employee Services Director
Amanda King, Communications & Public Involvement Director
FROM: Amy Resseguie, Sr. Communications Specialist
RE: 2021 Budget Feedback
Attached are additional emails and letters from community members regarding the 2021 Budget received
after the October 13, 2020 Council Work Session until Monday evening, November 2, 2020.
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From: Karen Artell <k_artell@msn.com>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 7:40 AM
To: Darin Atteberry <DATTEBERRY@fcgov.com>; City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Cc: Lawrence Pollack <LPollack@fcgov.com>; Travis Storin <tstorin@fcgov.com>; SAR Admin Team <SAR-Admin-
Team@fcgov.com>; Evangeline Ramirez <eramirez@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Response to Draft Budget 2021 (City Leaders SAR#58060)
Hello Mayor and City Council Members
I so appreciate the response to my email from City staff. Thank you to all for your patience as I try and
understand the City budget and process.
According to Travis Storin, $4.4M of the General Fund within the Economic Health outcome has the
highest level of Council flexibility in making budget decisions. I can’t disagree with Economic Health
offers funded with general fund monies. All seem a worthwhile use of funds.
I know making decisions about the budget are difficult and made even more so because of COVID 19
and the Cameron Peak fire. I still must advocate for not cutting more funds from the outdoor Parks
budget and actually request that funds be increased. The Culture and Recreation outcome has the
second to lowest budget and the third highest percent decrease in funding. Environmental Health has
the second highest budget cut.
The Cameron Peak fire has been devastating for Fort Collins and Larimer County. Today the fire is at
203,253 acres with firefighters saying that the fire won't be totally out until we get a good amount of
rain/snow. Looking at https://caltopo.com/m/176F almost all of Bobcat Ridge Natural area is impacted
by the fire. I'm hoping the homes in the area are still standing. Hotspots are burning this morning west
of Horsetooth Mountain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPIELYaunVQ
Due to the unprecedented destruction to County forests, river watersheds, natural areas and trails,
outdoor recreation areas will be limited for 2021 and for some time to come. This will increase the
need for and use of City parks and natural areas that have not been impacted by the fire. Services must
be maintained and expanded to account for the increased use related to both COVID 19 and the fire.
Hopefully other State and federal funds will be available to mitigate natural areas impacted by the
Cameron Peak fire.
I request that outdoor parks and natural areas and watershed funding be maintained and increased for
2021.
Thank you for your consideration.
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From: Cannhixon@comcast.net <Cannhixon@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 1:49 PM
To: Kit Baker <kitbaker1@gmail.com>; Emily Gorgol <egorgol@fcgov.com>
Cc: Wade Troxell <WTroxell@fcgov.com>; Kristin Stephens <kstephens@fcgov.com>; Susan Gutowsky
<sgutowsky@fcgov.com>; pignataro@fcgov.com; Ken Summers <ksummers@fcgov.com>; Ross Cunniff
<rcunniff@fcgov.com>; Jim McDonald <jmcdonald@fcgov.com>; Jack Rogers <jrogers@fcgov.com>;
martin@fcgov.com; Will Flowers <will@willflowers.com>; Peggy Lyle <peggy@downtownfortcollins.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Responding to Your Request for Ideas on Enhancing Art in the Community
Dear Friends --
I much appreciate being included on Kit Baker's message and appreciate, as always his voice.
Like Kit, I would like to see the Culture Master Plan implemented.
Gary and I have been working with the Fort Collins Symphony, Museum of Art, and other
culture non-profits to help with not just financial issues but also visibility issues. Each group
needs to remain viable and that means finding ways to keep a name in front of constituents.
To that end, we have been trying to identify affordable indoor spaces for small productions
and/or shows. The Carnegie Creative Center is one of the best possibilities for under 50
people. It is also home to the courtyard of historic cabins which could be used perhaps with
outdoor heaters. If there is a way to keep that open for small gatherings, I believe visual and
performing groups would be most grateful. Garden parties will become more difficult in cold
weather . . .
We appreciate that the task of creating a budget is monumental in this time. Thank you for
considering possibilities.
Carol Ann Hixon
Carol Ann Hixon
970.217.0221
cannhixon@comcast.net
On 10/19/2020 1:17 PM Kit Baker <kitbaker1@gmail.com> wrote:
Councilmember Gorgol,
I’m responding to the invitation you made at the 9/23 Online Budget Forum to submit ideas on how to
enhance art in the community (which I appreciate, thank you).
I had submitted actionable ideas in the Zoom chat at the time, which were not conveyed by the
moderator. I’m hoping they were seen and considered?
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To recap, my suggestions were to fund the following Cultural Services staff positions - which are
essential if we want to support the kind of new, more imaginative thinking on the role of the arts in our
community that Mayor Pro Tem Stephens was rightly asking for in the work session the night before:
•
• a Community
• Programs Manager (as proposed in the FoCo
• Creates Arts and Culture Master Plan approved by Council May 2019)
•
•
• a Manager
• of Creative Industries (also as proposed in the Plan)
•
•
• Filling
• the vacant position of Production Manager at Lincoln Center (without which Lincoln Center
cannot be expected to achieve the high standards required to achieve the goals of the Plan)
•
In sum, we have a good Plan ready to be implemented. In my view, we don’t need new ideas as much
as more resources to implement the Plan, which Jim McDonald ably pulled together and for which
myself and dozens of other volunteers provided feedback over the course of two years.
Yet Council has repeatedly declined to resource the Plan when asked.
First, there was the rejection of $100K earmarked for the rollout of the Plan included in the prior year’s
budget proposal. Had that been approved, a Community Programs Manager might have already been
in place for a year now and gotten a head start on achieving exactly what Mayor Pro Tem Stephens
was calling for.
Then Council had, at my count, two opportunities to approve funding for a Community Programs
Manager which were passed over.
I’d like to pause here and share these words from the Chairman of the National Endowment for the
Arts, Mary Anne Carter. They convey something of the urgency all of us working in arts and culture
were feeling as we watched and waited for the Plan to be implemented - and are feeling much more
keenly now that the pandemic is threatening so much of what we value in our culture and our lives:
“More than ever, right now, we need the arts as the nation faces economic uncertainty and
social unrest. The arts are an economic engine for our communities. As reported earlier this
year, the arts contribute more than $877 billion dollars annually to America’s GDP. Furthermore,
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the arts are a powerful antidote against bigotry and hate. The arts can and should be used to
build bridges, promote tolerance, and heal social divisions.”
To that list I would add "improve mental health." In the city where the Fort Collins Symphony’s
nationally-recognized B Sharp program took place, that should be a no-brainer.
The outsize, cost-effective benefits of arts participation on mental health which B Sharp so amply
demonstrated is just the tip of the iceberg. The benefits of arts participation for mental health across the
board are well documented, and hold significant potential for repairing and healing pandemic-related
damage across triple bottom line concerns.
Chief Swoboda has asked for help with relieving our police from the burden of dealing with mental
health problems. It’s high time for Council to start doing so in the cultural realm by funding the Plan it
approved last May - just as the NEA Chairman said, more than ever, right now.
Once the necessary staff support is in place, the Plan’s broader goals can be adapted to our new
circumstances and implemented in earnest.
Here are examples of how a properly resourced Plan could pivot around a chosen Action:
GOAL 1: EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Subcategory 1.3.a. calls for assessing the Fort Fund guidelines through the lens of how residents see
arts, culture and creativity as essential to the health and well-being of the community.
We have three BIPOC organizations here in Fort Collins with whom the City could work more closely to
achieve Equity and Inclusion goals:
Two of them, the Northern Colorado Intertribal Powwow Association (which has been hosting annual
visits by Indigenous musicians and dancers across Colorado and beyond since 1992), and the Grupo
de Danza Quetzalcoatl (which over the same period has been organizing Mexican folklórico dance
lessons and free community performances by dancers including numerous school-age students), are
barely getting by financially. Existing policies and practices have created barriers to these and other
grassroots organizations who haven’t had the wherewithal to build the financial clout of a Fort Collins
Symphony or an Open Stage and Company or a Canyon Concert Ballet, even though they have also
been serving our City and enriching our culture for decades.
Both of these organizations do stellar work in offering creative opportunities to their communities that
promote health and healing. The need for that in each case is clear - for Indigenous peoples both in our
community and further afield experiencing inherited trauma and a range of other mental health
challenges (including outsize impacts from the pandemic) and for Latinx community members who are
under similarly mounting pressures.
The third organization, the Cultural Enrichment Center, is embarking on its first year of leading a cohort
of young Black people through a yearlong program of engagement in after-school cultural and
entrepreneurial learning and projects.
Each of these organizations have unrealized potential for addressing the City’s needs when it comes to
equitable and inclusive cultural engagement. Each has education, creativity, prosperity, health and
healing at the very heart of their missions - with a particular focus on young people. Yet each face
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systemic barriers when it comes to securing the financial support they need to continue their work.
Barriers that need to be looked at with fresh eyes in our current much-changed circumstances.
These organizations and others need to be properly supported and sustained - more than ever, right
now. A Community Programs Manager reaching out and making a fuller assessment of their work in
relation to the needs of all our residents is in my view the best way to start making this happen.
It is vital that our shared heritage should be recognized and celebrated more fully at this challenging
moment in our history.
If we can’t do that, who are we?
A lot more remains to be said - about how the Community Programs Manager can be tasked with
bringing living art to people in their neighborhoods rather than expecting them to drive to Old Town for
their culture, about how the Manager could start working across departments to achieve greater
effectiveness across the board as outlined in the Plan, etc. - but I’ll leave it at that.
Thank you for your attention to this. As someone born in Fort Collins who since returning five years ago
has devoted much time and energy to trying to improve equity, access and inclusion in arts and culture,
I sincerely hope I can look forward to the City playing a more active role in establishing the arts in its
rightful place in our lives and our communities in the months and years ahead.
Best,
Kit Baker
kitbaker.com
Follow Arts for Biden-Harris on Facebook and on Instagram.
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From: Seanna Renworth <smrenworth@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 8:15 PM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] 2021 Budget
Dear Members of Fort Collins City Council,
I am writing to demand that the 2021 Budgeting For Outcomes process and final approved budget include direct
investment in, equity for, and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in our community. I am a
Fort Collins community member in District 5. The City of Fort Collins has a stated value of pursuing equity
leading with race; the City Manager’s recommended budget does little to define the City’s view of equity, center
the voices of BIPOC leaders and community members, or demonstrate this value with concrete budget choices
and investments. In fact, “equity” is mentioned only sparingly across the entire budget. The Community
Engagement process to influence these choices is already exclusionary: it requires time,
internet access, and fluency in English and financial jargon to understand. Further, because of the reactionary
nature of the budget to COVID-19, this nearly 400-page document was made public only 14 days before the first
public hearing. These constraints actively exclude the community members most impacted by these decisions:
Black, Indigenous, People of Color, our neighbors and colleagues who are
undocumented, and people with low-income. Over 19% of Fort Collins residents are Latinx and 2,215 students
within PSD speak a language other than English at home, and yet there is no commitment to language justice to
support participation for these families. These communities are also those most disproportionately impacted by
COVID-19 and its effects on the economy; we should be increasing our
investment in these communities, not continuing to exclude them.
Most importantly, the content of the budget does not demonstrate a commitment to equity leading with race:
- As we continue to advocate for divestment in policing and investment in community healing, police are the
only City employees receiving a raise in 2021.
- There is a lack of transparency and specificity across all police budgets categories, including increases for the
Office of the Chief and Community and Special Services with no explanation.
- Waste Reduction and Air Quality, two key environmental health programs that are part of the few that
explicitly mention benefits to and impacts on BIPOC were reduced or eliminated.
- There is no acknowledgment of digital access gaps or explicit investment in ensuring access for BIPOC or low-
income communities in the $18.1M Broadband core operations, though the COVID crisis has made these gaps
abundantly clear.
These are only a few examples of the ways that this budget actively excludes, erases, and otherwise harms
Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Fort Collins.
To rectify these issues, we, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and white allies, demand that City Council, the City
Manager’s Office, and members of the Budget Leadership Team enact the following immediately:
1. Delay the budget approval process, and increase inclusion efforts including translation of all public budget
documents, Strategic Plans, and budget offers, and increased outreach to and engagement of BIPOC and low-
income community members.
2. Actively engage leaders of the BIPOC community to define (or re-define) outcomes and priority areas for
investment.
3. Increase investment into BIPOC communities and programs to support healing, health, and community-led
safety by divesting from areas that do harm, including the police.
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4. Increase accountability to the BIPOC community by developing accessible, public-facing data on City
performance against outcomes rooted in equity.
We believe our city leaders should speak with the community rather than above the community. It is critical
these million-dollar decisions include community voice and input on the potential benefits and harms to
individuals, and especially our BIPOC communities. A budget is a moral document - Fort Collins’ budget should
reflect an explicit moral investment in equity leading with race. We need people-centered decisions that
demonstrate the City’s stated values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
I look forward to your reply.
Thank you,
Seanna Renworth
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From: Cristyn Hypnar <cristyn.hypnar@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 9:09 PM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Follow up on 2021 budget and work session #3
Hello Mayor Troxell and City Councilmembers,
I spoke at the City Council meeting on October 6 advocating for a greater demonstrated commitment to equity
in our 2021 budget. I wanted to follow up on the heels of last week's council work session to ask what further
changes have been made to the budget in advance of the first reading on November 4?
In listening to your last work session (10/6/20), I was excited to hear that some of you seemed to indeed have
heard the community's comments regarding a need for equity, inclusion, accessibility, and transparency.
Councilmember Summers, I was upset to hear you did not seem as receptive as other Councilmembers to the
community's call for equity in the city budget. You spoke to "equity funding" and said "Equity funding is not a
budget line item...but it is more of a broad statement that we want all of our budget to be equitable for every
member in the community....I view the entire budget as an equity document, an equity statement, and if it's not,
if there are things in the budget that favor one group over another, it should be brought to our attention." I
understand that, and I think you need to recognize that that is what the community was doing on October 6—
bringing it to your attention that we see serious gaps in the equity of the 2021 budget.
A special thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Stephens for speaking strongly in favor of investigating how we can direct
funds towards an immigrant legal defense fund and for recognizing the need for this. I also really appreciated
your flagging that it is important for community members to see council discussing topics that are brought forth
to demonstrate that our voices are heard. Relatedly, I am grateful for those Councilmembers who spoke in
support of figuring out transit solutions that do not leave gaps in transportation for transit dependent
community members.
Councilmember Summers, I would like to call you out for xenophobic remarks that added a qualification to what
sort of immigrants you seemed to deem acceptable to the Fort Collins community. I was concerned to hear you
talk about asylum seekers being worthy of legal support but not "illegal immigrants" who might be "drug
pushers." This is unacceptable. The Fort Collins that I want to live in is welcoming and accepting of all of our
community members, regardless of the circumstances that brought them to our city.
I am also writing to continue my advocacy for prioritizing installation of Connexion in low-income and mobile
home park communities. This is essential in ensuring that historically marginalized communities are able to even
begin to access the current tools for community engagement, which are mostly digital to my knowledge. On that
subject, I am compiling some suggestions re: new and additional ways to engage all community members and to
make the process of engagement more accessible. Expect to hear from me on this in the coming weeks.
Lastly, I want to recommend that we not cut parks funding to make up for a budget deficit as it relates to closing
restrooms and port-o-let's during the winter. These may be the only facilities that people experiencing
homelessness are able to use.
The best solution I saw proposed to address budget gaps and to come up with funding for increasing equitable
outcomes in specific line items is the use of general fund reserves. Understanding that this would put us in a
challenging situation in 2022, we are in unprecedented times right now and it is essential that we use all
resources to support community members in need.
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Thank you for your time!
Cristyn
CRISTYN HYPNAR
Graphic Designer | Photographer | Illustrator
http://www.cristynhypnarcreative.com/ | 248.229.9186
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From: Holly LeMasurier <holly@homeward2020.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 11:54 PM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Considerations and recommendations re: homelessnesss
Hello City Leaders,
Thank you again for your leadership during this important time. I recognize you face many compelling interests
and considerations during the BFO budget process, and I provided a memo regarding homelessness solutions.
I attached my letter of suggestions and recommendations again here. I was asked to resend and explain this
memo was my curation of most repeated conversations, points and perspectives from months of listening in the
community about the City budget, priorities and decision-making, particularly regarding investments in ending
homelesness and added concerns about COVID.
I am so grateful to work alongside so many diverse partners and stakeholders striving to end homelessness. I will
continue to communicate with you what I learn and hear from these experiences as authentically as I can.
May we continue the vision to make homelessness rare, short-lived and non-recurring together! Take care and
thank you, Holly LeMasurier
Holly LeMasurier
Homeward 2020 Director
www.homeward2020.org
970-325-3125
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October 20, 2020
RE: City Manager’s Recommended Budget
Fort Collins Mayor Troxell, City Council, City Leaders and Department of Social Sustainability,
The uncertain circumstances we face in 2021 require our City Leaders prioritize our community health
and resiliency, starting with actions and decisions during this year’s budget process. It is a time to pivot
from business as usual toward what is critically needed for our best future. There is an imperative to
prioritize our community’s most basic needs at this time and anticipate impacts of this pandemic and
recession for several years to come – to protect lives, preserve health, achieve a strong rehousing
focus for people facing housing crisis and accessing emergency shelters, and by extension, work
toward overall community recovery. Now is a critical time to deeply resource solutions to realize
our community vision to make homelessness rare, short-lived and non-recurring in Fort Collins.
I have reported those experiencing homelessness in Fort Collins are overrepresented by people
of color, people who experience generational poverty, people who experience trauma in the
home or community-at-large, and seniors and people with disabilities with limited, fixed
incomes. They are more prone to fatality from COVID-19 and ongoing environmental exposure.
These community members also have higher rates of acute primary health care needs, including
respiratory disease, and are at much greater risk of COVID-19 infection and complications from
infection. These hundreds of people are without shelter and homes today in Fort Collins – breathing
unhealthy air, highly vulnerable to COVID spread in this community, facing chilly fall days, and turning
to camping, parks, busses, cars, open stores, restaurants and limited open public facilities for respite,
rest and relief. Hundreds are highly exposed to unhealthy air for over a month, imminent cold nights
and winter temperatures, and persistent widespread COVID-19 spread in the community. Please
extend great compassion and consideration for their condition.
Hundreds of households in Fort Collins, if not more, are predicted to become literally homeless
for the first time in the coming months. They will quickly bump up against and join the ‘iceberg’ of
people already in the system. These newly homeless will join hundreds already accumulated in
stressed, congregate spaces for meals, toileting and hand washing, showers, sleeping and basic needs
services. People in congregate settings, especially shelters, have always been extremely vulnerable to
communicable disease (flu, pneumonia, TB, norovirus) and now COVID-19 compounds these this
winter.
Now is a time to ensure 24/7 access to clean, safe shelter and deploy rapid rehousing programs
to ensure exits into homes where people are safest and can begin to stabilize their lives. I urge
Council to reexamine the City Manager’s Recommended Budget and respond to the repeated
community request for City Leaders to address 1) growing homelessness, 2) the critical lack of deeply
affordable housing (0-30%) so people can self-resolve their housing crisis without perpetual social
services, and 3) support for human services at needed scale and scope to provide person-centered
solutions.
Please target this budget to reach the most at-risk populations and these repeatedly vocalized
community priorities at this time. Some recommendations actions are as follows:
• Pause the BFO process to conduct a deeper evaluation of its effectiveness responding to
community needs and voiced priorities.
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• Provide analysis of City investments toward community-identified priorities and the disconnect
from resources over multiple cycles. For example:
o .0006% of the $646M recommended budget is toward Homelessness Initiatives.
o .0006% is recommended for Social Sustainability.
o .0008% is recommended toward the CCIP (Affordable Housing Fund).
• Fund the recommended Housing Manager and Homelessness Solutions Coordinator positions,
o Social Sustainability currently comprises .005% of City Staff positions.
• Consider decriminalizing camping at this time, and reflect deep compassion, as there is no
alternative night and day shelter and many more people lacking access to supportive
community services at this time. Camping and other ‘crimes derived from the status of
homelessness’ continue to be criminalized even under current CDC guidelines, and
compounded with lack of alternative options for shelter.
• Dedicate a one-time $1,000,000.00 toward an emergency rapid-rehousing flex fund to support a
rehousing surge, aiming to rapidly decompress the Fort Collins shelters by housing 150 people
out of our Fort Collins shelter system during this winter season. This program can be managed
with community partner organizations. A basic system model has been provided to council and
City Leaders.
• Dedicate $2, 500,000 in the 2021, and upcoming budgets through 2030, by officially committing
a reliable ‘slice’ of the Keep Fort Collins Great budget from ‘Other Community Priorities’. This
can expand affordable housing acquisitions and construction in the next decade and rapidly
grow our affordable housing inventory. This budget can be managed by the Housing Manager in
cooperation with Housing Catalyst, Affordable Housing providers and developers.
I appreciate City Council and City Leaders further consideration of these significant and impactful
budget allocations to help our community reach the vision to make homelessness rare, short-lived and
non-recurring. This vision has always been aligned with community healthy and resiliency, and is
amplified at this time. Now is an opportunity for bold action and clear decisions to create a more
sustainable, healthy and housed community for all.
With gratitude,
Holly LeMasurier,
Homeward 2020 Director
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From: Sabrina Santos <santoss0718@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:39 AM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] City of Fort Collins Budget for 2021
Hello City Council,
I have reviewed the proposed 2021 Budget and have feedback on the proposed enhancements,
reductions, and ongoing funding to certain programs. As a local community member, I am most
concerned with community well-being and equal access to resources such as affordable housing,
health and mental health care, and transportation. The following budget changes are most concerning
me:
•
• All reductions to Neighborhood
• Liveability & Social Health have direct and negative impacts to local job opportunities and
community partnerships.
•
•
• The Water and Wastewater
• Enhancements reference replacements in ‘priority’ areas, but it is not clear how areas are
prioritized (and on what criteria) and if these are equally distributed/equally accessible to all
people in the City.
•
•
• Reductions to
• all
• environmental sustainability programs (approx $1.5m total) especially: Air Quality Programming,
Recycling, Climate Commitment, Natural Areas Conservation, and Environmental Regulatory
Affairs.
•
o
o Especially the proposed
o $2 or $3 fee at the Timberline Recycling Center to offset costs. This will likely deter
people from recycling.
o
•
• There are 11 separate budgets
• to cover all of Fort Collins Police Services costs, and fewer proposed
• reductions than the environmental programs.
•
•
• $108k set aside to clean
• up and prevent homeless encampments - with no mention of alternative housing
• being provided.
Thank you,
Sabrina Santos
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From: Connor Barry <connorbarry1093@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2020 8:46 PM
To: Josh Birks <JBirks@fcgov.com>; Erin Zimmermann <EZimmermann@fcgov.com>
Cc: Renee Walkup <walkup@salespeak.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Final 2021 Budget Memo for Council
Hi Josh,
Please see attached for final memo on the 2021 Budget for Council's Review.
Thanks,
--
Connor Barry
719-459-0108
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: October 19th, 2020
TO: Mayor and Councilmembers
CC: Darin Atteberry, City Manager;
Josh Birks, Economic Health and Redevelopment Director
FROM: Connor Barry, Chair – Economic Advisory Commission;
Renee Walkup, Vice-Chair – Economic Advisory Commission; and
Members, Economic Advisory Commission for 2020
RE: 2021 BUDGET PREVIEW
On August 19th, 2020 the Economic Advisory Commission (EAC) heard a presentation from Interim CFO Travis
Storin on the 2021 Budget Overview and Process Update. The presentation reviewed the financial conditions
that the City anticipates for Fiscal Year 2021 and specific changes to the budgeting process in response to
COVID-19.
Summary of Discussion:
• The City noted that due to an expected budget shortfall for 2021, the usual two-year budgeting
cycle was updated to a one-year cycle to reflect the budget constraints of the unique
circumstances and to promote focus on core City objectives and continuity of service.
o The Commission noted the prudence of this approach in order to maintain consistent,
quality City services and to recognize that current fiscal uncertainty may require a short-
term budget that differs from long-term objectives.
• The City reviewed the assumptions used to hold expenses as flat as possible: direct cost
reductions of ~$13.2M including a $3M freeze on compensation and hiring. These proposed
measures were adopted in order to minimize service reductions, maximize community
priorities, and retain the workforce. Additional shortfall would be made up through the use of
higher than normal reserve withdrawals of ~$47.5M.
o Commission members commented on the reliance on the use of reserves and
questioned what would be left after this budget year.
o The City maintains that reserve levels would be sufficient going forward to meet TABOR
statues. However, they recognized that if the economy does not improve in the
following years, then reserves would be seriously impacted.
o Commission members agreed that this point deserved increased attention, suggesting
that revenue will quite likely follow the trajectory of the virus and any commensurate
federal or state response.
o Commission members encourage Council and the City to develop a “worst case”
scenario that describes the budget cuts that would be required if revenues could not be
made up through the use of reserves. The Commission encourages that the results of
such a study or subsequent studies be made public.
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From: Gayla Martinez <gmaxwellmartinez@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 7:00 AM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Thank you!
Dear Mayor Troxel and Council Members,
I am writing to thank you for your continuing support of the Air Quality and Climate Action programs. Your
clear-sighted and bold leadership in a time of so much uncertainty is admirable. The people of Fort Collins will
benefit from your decision to reject the proposed budget cuts to these critical programs.
Sincerely,
Gayla Maxwell Martinez
DocuSign Envelope ID: ACA9BA90-7610-4516-B323-36D0A9FC9D27
From: sharron due <sharidue@bereelpictures.com>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 8:32 AM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Air quality
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
Thank you for protecting the health of the people in our city. Thank you for protecting our air quality. Now more
than ever, with a pandemic that causes respiratory illness, we need to think about protecting our beautiful city
with clean air, water, and open spaces for people to breathe fresh air and get sunshine to boost our mental
health and immune systems.
It’s time to invest further in air quality so that it can no longer be a black eye on our beautiful award-winning
city! Thanks for taking this step toward that goal.
Kind regards,
Shari Due
Be Reel Pictures
Producer/Director
(970) 472-1052
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From: DAVID ROY <david.roy@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 9:04 AM
To: CCSL <CCSL@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Thank you!
Good morning, Fort Collins City Council Members;
thank you for including monies to help mitigate climate change in the City Budget.
Climate change, along with over-population and nuclear weaponry, poses one of the greatest
threats to our civilization.
Recognizing that we are in a climate emergency shows maturity of leadership, an understanding
that it will take work and funding to create a future for those yet to be born, and that the fabric of
life across the planet must be nurtured, not degraded.
For your service to our community, and your continued efforts to help to protect and preserve
our planet, thank you.
David Roy
2016 Evergreen Court
Fort Collins CO 80521
(970) 493-9201
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From: Rick Casey <caseyrick@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 9:56 AM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Funding of the Air Quality and Climate Action programs
Dear Fort Collins City Council members,
I'd like to take a moment to thank you for a recent decision on the City budget. On behalf of the Fort Collins
Sustainability Group, we appreciate that despite the most challenging budget in recent memory, Council has
seen fit to restore funding to the Air Quality and Climate Action programs by rejecting budget reduction items
27.9 and 27.10.
These are critical programs for the future health and welfare of the citizens of our city, and support the City’s
2019 declaration of a climate emergency. It would have been short-sighted, despite the budget shortfall, to
make these cuts. We are glad you agree.
Rick Casey
webmaster, Fort Collins Sustainability Group
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From: Seanna Renworth <smrenworth@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 5:11 PM
To: City Leaders <CityLeaders@fcgov.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] 2021 Budget
Dear Members of Fort Collins City Council,
I am writing to demand that the 2021 Budgeting For Outcomes process and final approved budget include direct
investment in, equity for, and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in our community. I am a
Fort Collins community member in District 5. The City of Fort Collins has a stated value of pursuing equity
leading with race; the City Manager’s recommended budget does little to define the City’s view of equity, center
the voices of BIPOC leaders and community members, or demonstrate this value with concrete budget choices
and investments. In fact, “equity” is mentioned only sparingly across the entire budget. The Community
Engagement process to influence these choices is already exclusionary: it requires time,
internet access, and fluency in English and financial jargon to understand. Further, because of the reactionary
nature of the budget to COVID-19, this nearly 400-page document was made public only 14 days before the first
public hearing. These constraints actively exclude the community members most impacted by these decisions:
Black, Indigenous, People of Color, our neighbors and colleagues who are
undocumented, and people with low-income. Over 19% of Fort Collins residents are Latinx and 2,215 students
within PSD speak a language other than English at home, and yet there is no commitment to language justice to
support participation for these families. These communities are also those most disproportionately impacted by
COVID-19 and its effects on the economy; we should be increasing our
investment in these communities, not continuing to exclude them.
Most importantly, the content of the budget does not demonstrate a commitment to equity leading with race:
- As we continue to advocate for divestment in policing and investment in community healing, police are the
only City employees receiving a raise in 2021.
- There is a lack of transparency and specificity across all police budgets categories, including increases for the
Office of the Chief and Community and Special Services with no explanation.
- Waste Reduction and Air Quality, two key environmental health programs that are part of the few that
explicitly mention benefits to and impacts on BIPOC were reduced or eliminated.
- There is no acknowledgment of digital access gaps or explicit investment in ensuring access for BIPOC or low-
income communities in the $18.1M Broadband core operations, though the COVID crisis has made these gaps
abundantly clear.
These are only a few examples of the ways that this budget actively excludes, erases, and otherwise harms
Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Fort Collins.
To rectify these issues, we, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and white allies, demand that City Council, the City
Manager’s Office, and members of the Budget Leadership Team enact the following immediately:
1. Delay the budget approval process, and increase inclusion efforts including translation of all public budget
documents, Strategic Plans, and budget offers, and increased outreach to and engagement of BIPOC and low-
income community members.
2. Actively engage leaders of the BIPOC community to define (or re-define) outcomes and priority areas for
investment.
3. Increase investment into BIPOC communities and programs to support healing, health, and community-led
safety by divesting from areas that do harm, including the police.
4. Increase accountability to the BIPOC community by developing accessible, public-facing data on City
performance against outcomes rooted in equity.
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We believe our city leaders should speak with the community rather than above the community. It is critical
these million-dollar decisions include community voice and input on the potential benefits and harms to
individuals, and especially our BIPOC communities. A budget is a moral document - Fort Collins’ budget should
reflect an explicit moral investment in equity leading with race. We need people-centered decisions that
demonstrate the City’s stated values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
I look forward to your reply.
Thank you,
Seanna Renworth
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