Thank you to all our veterans and active-duty military for your service, I hope you all had a blessed Veteran's Day!  Each year, after we celebrate our nations protectors, and then turn to prepare to greet the holidays, the city also finishes up an Annual Budget.  The City Budget is something that is worked on by city staff for several months, to then be publicly presented and passed in two readings at two separate City Council Meetings.  I think many people find "The City Budget" not so exciting, but to me, it's a process to be treasured, because it’s the time where we as a community, staff, and Council decide how to make your tax dollars work for you, and ensures we provide the resources needed to support the city’s 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, Strategic Plan 2022 - City of Fountain (fountaincolorado.org). 

If you take a few minutes to look through the Strategic Plan, you can see how the Priorities outlined on each page work together with the budget to accomplish the city’s goals.  Yes, it is a lot of work to get the Strategic Plan and Budget documents to work together, but synchronizing them is important, and ensures that we are all working toward the same common goal that is outlined in our City Vision Statement, to continue to make Fountain one of the greatest places to live in Colorado.  So, I don't think of budgets as boring, but instead see it as a road map to help us get to where we are going as a city for the next year. Information about the 2023 City Budget can be found on our website, at this link.

I hope you have a great time during the holidays and have an opportunity to come to some of the local events going on in our community.  The Christmas tree at City Hall is lit, the Nature Center always has holiday events, and just driving around and seeing the light displays of so many of our residents helps bring some of the cheer of the season to everyone.  Happy Thanksgiving and Seasons Greetings to everyone!