Fort Collins staff says downtown parking fund faces growing strain within a decade

Fort Collins staff told City Council on Tuesday that the city’s downtown parking system can cover operations and planned capital set-asides for only the next one to three years under current assumptions, with pressure on maintenance and technology costs emerging after that and basic operations falling short in year nine and beyond. The warning came during a work-session update on downtown parking, where staff said the system’s finances remain heavily dependent on fees and citations and will need additional mid- to long-term revenue sources.

Monica Martinez, the finance manager for transportation services, said the model assumes personnel costs rising 3% annually and non-personnel costs rising 2.54%, with separate allowances for major maintenance and periodic system updates such as software, park-guidance tools and vehicle replacement. In the first three years, she said, the system can meet operational needs as well as its sinking fund and update assumptions, barring an unexpectedly large capital need. By years four through nine, operations are still covered but the system begins falling short on long-term maintenance and updates, Martinez said. After that, she said, "we wouldn't even be meeting our operational needs, let alone anything in the sinking fund or in the system updates."

Staff’s broader update framed the issue as part of an "upside-down" parking model in which the most convenient on-street spaces are free while garages and surface lots charge a fee. Revenue today comes from permits, hourly parking and citations. Agenda materials said garage and surface-lot permits plus hourly fees totaled about $1.61 million in 2026, just under half of total collections, while citation collections reached $1.4 million in 2025. Near-term actions already approved or underway include permit-fee changes targeted for Sept. 1, a proposed fine update targeted for October pending judicial approval, expanded enforcement that began in March, and a parking access-control system expected in early 2027.

Mayor Emily Francis questioned how much of the system is effectively being carried by citations rather than parking activity itself. She said citations made up 47% of revenue in 2024 and highlighted expired registration tickets as the largest single revenue line, saying they account for more than half of citation revenue and "absolutely nothing to do with parking." Francis said she wants more information before proposed fine changes go to a judge, including more data on who is being charged registration-related citations.

Martinez said paid on-street parking could change that balance. Staff’s comparison model estimates paid on-street parking could generate about $3.5 million annually, creating room either for reinvestment in downtown parking and curb management or for less reliance on citation revenue. Martinez said that could allow the city to reconsider its enforcement model because citations are "typically understood to be regressive."

The council discussion also pointed toward broader policy questions beyond revenue. Francis said parking debates remain contentious partly because many people still see driving as the only realistic way to get downtown, and she urged the city to pair parking changes with better transit and bike connections. Staff’s recommended near-term approach is to build a public-facing dashboard on parking-system health and test a small paid-parking pilot at the Oak & Remington surface lot, with broader options expected to return to council later.