Well before the community and City Council review the City Manager’s Recommended Budget, community priorities are built into the budget process. Here’s how:
During key planning efforts, City staff engage with community members to understand their interests, needs and hopes for Fort Collins. The feedback gathered through these efforts helps shape important planning documents. These plans then guide the budget requests that staff submit for the City Manager’s consideration.
Examples include City Plan, the Strategic Plan, and department-specific plans such as the Urban Forest Master Plan and the Economic Health Strategic Plan. View a list of important City plans. Together, these documents bring community input into the City Manager’s Recommended Budget.
The City also uses the Community Survey to better understand what community members care about. This survey provides useful data that can be compared over time and across other communities. The Community Survey occurs more frequently than most planning efforts, and offers a way to understand community priorities between planning efforts.
Voting is another important way community members shape the budget. By participating in municipal elections, residents set the direction for the City by choosing City Councilmembers to represent them. Through Council Finance Committee and Council Work Sessions with staff, City Council participates in budget development, sets budget priorities and makes final decisions for our community.
Finally, in the months leading up budget adoption there are several public review and input opportunities community members can directly patriciate in. In September and October, City Council will hold budget deliberations and public hearings. Keep an eye on these key dates if you are interested in participating. You are always encouraged to connect with your Councilmember about the budget and other community interests you may have.
When community perspective is central to our planning, it becomes central to our budget process. This ensures the biennial adopted budget reflects community priorities and desired outcomes, and establishes the foundation for staff to do their work. Your input on community priorities translates into services, programs and investments operationalized by the budget. Thank you for contributing to a great Fort Collins!
