Fort Collins council weighs moving up trails and composting in quarter-cent tax plan

Fort Collins City Council used a budget work session Tuesday to signal possible changes in how the city schedules projects funded by its voter-approved quarter-cent capital tax, with members showing interest in moving up recreational paved trails and composting-related work while questioning how much early money should go to streetscapes. Staff presented a draft 2027-28 package totaling about $29 million, including recurring transportation programs, affordable housing capital funding, Willow Street and Midtown streetscapes, a community bike park, pickleball and Nature in the City.

Budget Manager Jenny Sawyer said the tax package approved by voters in November 2025 is fixed, but the project calendar is more discretionary. She said collections began in 2026, the tax runs through 2035 and is expected to generate a little less than $12 million a year. Staff said the proposed 2027-28 schedule emphasizes transportation programs that rely on predictable local match dollars, affordable housing funding split across multiple budget cycles, and projects described as shovel-ready or tied to outside partners.

Councilmember Josh Fudge said the draft sets aside $6.8 million for streetscapes, including the Willow Street project in Old Town, which could draw a $1 million contribution from the Downtown Development Authority, and about $2 million for a Midtown streetscape project around the College Drake to Boardwalk area. He said the community bike park and Fossil Creek Park pickleball project have already had preliminary planning work, while Nature in the City is proposed to start in 2028 after delays tied to reserves from the previous capital tax program.

Mayor Emily Francis questioned whether the city was leaning too heavily toward downtown streetscape spending. Francis said downtown has already seen substantial streetscape investment and asked for a list of other candidate streetscape projects across the city, saying conditions are "not equal across the city." She also said she wants at least some composting infrastructure money available earlier than currently shown, arguing that momentum from the city's pilot work and talks with Larimer County could justify access to funding before 2030.

Assistant City Manager Jacob Castillo said composting timing is constrained both by available cash and by the scale of the project. A facility sized only for Fort Collins would cost about $15 million without land acquisition, he said, while a regional-scale facility would cost more than $20 million, also excluding land. With only $7 million identified in the tax package, Castillo said the city would need partners and could not "go it alone."

Fudge said he strongly supports accelerating recreational paved trails, saying that while he was knocking doors in newer neighborhoods in northeast Fort Collins, bicycles came up more often than he expected. He also asked whether transportation projects tied to the city's Vision Zero goals reflect newer safety-focused design methods or older plans already in motion. Staff responded that some projects are already underway or tied to grant requirements, but future work will increasingly reflect updated street standards and a different approach to designing and rehabilitating streets.

Fudge also said he supports keeping the pickleball project on an earlier timeline and suggested the city examine whether some Nature in the City work could be absorbed by existing Natural Areas funding, freeing room for other priorities. Councilmember Chris Conway said the 2027-28 budget is the key near-term decision point, while projects in later budget cycles can still be reshuffled as council gives further direction.