Loveland’s city staff was looking for direction Tuesday night (June 23, 2009) at the council study session. The staff presented a list of projects from the Capital Program which is funded by CEF’s (Capital Expansion Fees), Council Reserve, General Funds and other sources.
Funded capital improvement projects create a problem as the flat general fund cannot absorb the additional annual expenses a finished project will create without cutting the budget somewhere else. The staff also presented a list of planned capital improvement projects totaling $45 million that are not yet funded.
Here is what the staff presented;
It is also important to note that as the Transportation Program adds lane miles to the City’s street system, over time the Street Rehabilitation Program will need increased resources to maintain these additions if we are to maintain service levels at current standards.
Based on the revenue projections in the Financial Plan that reflect a flattening revenue stream over the ten-year period, there will be difficult decisions to make in the General Fund. Limited resources will require setting priorities for adding new services, adding new facilities and maintaining current service levels.
The reality that the city may be unable to support the infrastructure it needs to keep pace with growth already built created a somber mood. The only part of the capital program that was identified for future delays or cancellation are the improvements scheduled for the downtown area. This is awkward since Carol Johnson and other McWhinney cheerleaders on council have always sought support from downtown merchants claiming the city’s commitment to McWhinney could only help downtown. Now the cost of providing services is rising while tax revenue it not.
The downtown parking garage, the pedestrian path where Mr. Neat’s was once located along with other general improvements are now in jeopardy for lack of funding. Among the items draining current revenue is “repayment of the inter-fund loan for land purchase on State Highway 402.” That was money taken from the CEF’s (Capital Expansion Fees) to expand a current fire station and build another that City Manager Don Williams raided for land speculation on highway 402. The city now has the vacant land but no new or improved fire stations and an inter-fund debt that needs to be repaid with money that could have been used elsewhere.
Staff left frustrated at the lack of clear direction. It appeared council is not yet prepared to tell the community or staff exactly which capital programs will be indefinitely delayed in the coming years. It appears they prefer to leave the projects in the capital improvements schedule while knowing the money will not be to maintain them once they are built.
On another topic, the council concluded that a lodging tax should be placed on the ballot for November of this year. While they couldn’t agree on where the money from a lodging tax should be spent they agreed to work with public input to make that determination. The City of Loveland failed in 2000 and again in 2001 to get voter approval for the imposition of a lodging tax in Loveland.
