R
EDSTONE JUNE 30 IS NATIONAL BOMB POP DAY
R•E
•
V•I
•
E•W
LOOK FOR REDSTONE REVIEW AT ISSUU.COM / SDCMC VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5
LYONS, COLORADO
RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50
JUNE 15 / JULY 13, 2016
B •R •I •E •F •S
RETREET plants trees to help Lyons recovery LYONS – On Sunday June 5, a group of volunteers from all over the country came to Lyons to plant trees for residents who were flood victims. The group, RETREET, is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded by a motivated group of arborists, cyclists and project managers. The organization provides disaster relief to stricken communities on a local, national and international level by leading volunteers in restoring decimated urban forests. RETREET offers a unique solution to an urgent problem at a relatively low cost. About 25 volunteers came to Lyons and along with some volunteers from Home Depot planted over 100 trees at homes in the confluence and in Apple Valley. A practice and learning session took place in the dog park where about four trees were planted. The trees were blue spruce and oak. RETREET worked closely with the Colorado Forest Service from Colorado State University to find the right trees for Lyons. They worked with the Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery and the local Lyons Lions Club donated some money left over from their treeplanting project on Main Street to RETREET for the trees. Some volunteers were local residents including Joycelyn Fankhouser, Flood Recovery Coordinator/Emergency Management Coordinator/Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services. She and her Continue Briefs on Page 7
issuu.com/sdcmc Like us on Facebook
I •N •D •E •X LYONS MAYOR’S CORNER LOCAL OPTIONS ECOLOGY INSIGHT A&E CONTEXT FOUNDATION CREATE CONCEPTS FOOD NATURE
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
There was plenty of great kayaking action at the 15th Annual Lyons Outdoor Games, held June 3 and 4 at Bohn Park on the St. Vrain River in Lyons. PHOTO BY JONATHAN AUERBACH
The 2017 budget process begins, new sheriff deputy steps in, and alternatives for buyout properties By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – Finance Director Tony Cavalier discussed the upcoming budget process with the Lyons Board of Trustees (BOT) at a workshop on June 6. This was a prelude to working on the new 2017 budget which will begin in earnest on July 5, the first town board meeting in July. The town budget is generally considered to be the projected total expenditures for the next year (2017). “The budget is our best estimate of our expenses,” said Victoria Simonsen, town administrator. Cavalier told the board that a large part of the town’s revenue comes from sales and property taxes. In 2015 the town collected just under $500,000 in property taxes ($499,722). The town is limited to 5.5 percent in property taxes but Lyons does not collect that whole amount. “We have a temporary mill levy credit, so we don’t collect that much,” said Cavalier. He explained that the enterprise funds (utilities) do not normally fall under the TABOR Amendment, which limits the amount of taxes that governments can collect and spend. The town collected $774,002 in sales tax in 2015. “We have projected sales tax to come in higher this year,” said Cavalier. “We expect to collect approximately $880,000 in
sales tax in 2016.” In November 2015, voters in Lyons approved a .5 percent increase in sales tax. Lyons went from a 3 percent sales tax to a 3.5 percent sales tax. The increased sales tax started in January 2016. About four or five years ago the town board and then-Mayor Julie Van Domelen tried to pass an increase in sales tax; the voters turned it down. But the flood created a serious burden on the town’s ability to repair and maintain its utilities and infrastructure, and last year voters looked at sales tax as a means to rebuild and maintain some of the damaged areas and so the sales-tax increase passed easily. A third source of revenue for Lyons is grants. Lyons is still using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money and grant funding for flood recovery projects. Cavalier said he is anticipating that the grant funding will be about $25 million this year by the end of 2016. This would bring the total expenditures for 2016 to just over $30 million. The 2017 budget will be based on this year’s budget. Lyons still has a long way to go before it completes the flood repairs and finishes the grant funding. Cavalier said, “The town is about 25 percent of the way into the FEMA grants.” This year the town will start replacing several bridges. In other news Boulder County Sargent
Nick Goldberger introduced the BOT to his replacement, Sargent Bill Crist, who will replace Goldberger as the substation supervisor sometime in August or September. Crist told the board that he often works in Lyons on the night shift and said that he grew up in Gunbarrel. He is a 15-year veteran with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department. Joe Kubala, Lyons town engineer, told the BOT that the curb and gutter project is making headway and the project should be finished by the end of June. The project caused long lines of traffic stopped up all through town on Memorial Day. One driver reported that it took 45 minutes to get through town starting at the light at the Intersection of Hwy. 36 and Hwy. 66 going all the way through town to the end of Main Street where the highways fork off on to Hwy 7. The lanes through town narrowed down to one lane going each way. After that weekend traffic jam, Kubala said that the four lanes of traffic going through town would remain open on weekends. Matt Manley, flood recovery supervisor, brought up the idea of people living in the confluence area managing the vacant properties where flood damaged homes have been removed. The small lots surrounded by homes are not suitable for actual park areas for the public, but could be used by neighbors adjacent to the vacant properties in exchange for those neighbors taking care of the property.