 The City of Fort Collins, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Foothills Mall, and Downtown Business Association have joined efforts to help promote Fort Collins business.
The campaign is designed to:
- support City services through improved sales and use tax
- support local jobs
- keep a variety of shopping and business choices in our home town.
The Shop Fort Collins First Campaign offers the public and local businesses a chance to rally around our City, our quality of life, and our livelihoods.
When someone shops Fort Collins First or indulges in a daily coffee habit, that money helps support City taxes, among other things. While discussions around taxes are not popular, most people agree that parks, road improvements, public libraries, and police services are important services. They keep this City the Choice City, and among the most desirable places to live.
The City’s sales and use tax is 3 percent, so for every $100 that is spent in Fort Collins, $3 goes to support City services. For example, road maintenance requires a budget of approximately $7.5 million. This money buys 25 miles of the City’s 460 miles of road maintenance each year. To repave and repair the roads, gutters and sidewalks in a typical neighborhood costs approximately $475,000. While that would be fairly costly for most residents to assume themselves, distribution among all households requires only $8.33 in taxes per household per year. Some other facts include:
- Yearly maintenance of City Park, Fort Collins beloved community park, costs approximately $3.77 per person – compare that to the cost of a movie ticket…
- It costs each household less than a penny a day to keep a police officer on the streets. Each police officer, and his equipment, salary and benefits, and vehicle lease and maintenance costs $93,676 per year. That equates to approximately $1.64 per household per year, less than a penny a day.
- To keep the Main library open seven days/week, each resident spends in taxes about the same amount they would spend for an extra large pizza. It requires approximately $17.56/year per resident to keep the Main library operating.
Shopping in Fort Collins helps support City services such as police, fire, parks, transportation, and much more. And spending money locally does more than provide City services. It helps keep friends and family employed, and gives residents the variety of shopping choices that they demand. Make a commitment to indulge a little, and support the campaign by Shopping Fort Collins First!
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