# Council Unanimously Approves BEAD Grant Agreement, Receives Budget Updates

- **Publisher:** FoCo Observer — independent local news for Fort Collins and Northern Colorado
- **Published:** Jul 15, 2026, 7:36 PM MDT (2026-07-15T19:36:00.331719-06:00)
- **Section:** Local-government
- **Canonical URL:** https://foco-observer.com/fort-collins/council-unanimously-approves-bead-grant-agreement/

At the 5:45 p.m. special meeting, the council adopted Resolution 2026-091, authorizing the City Manager to sign the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant agreement, on a 7-0 vote with no staff presentation and no public comment [^1]. This action was the separate authorization needed to sign the grant agreement, as the council had already appropriated the BEAD funds. Following the special meeting, the council held a 6 p.m. work session, which took no formal action. During the work session, staff provided a 2026-2027 council priority update and a 2027-2028 budget update, framing the coming budget as a "realignment budget" due to Fort Collins' declining share of countywide taxable sales and depleted one-time funding [^1]. As part of the budget update, departments were asked to propose 8% reductions, and staff discussed the quarter-cent capital tax programming for 2027-2028, which generates about $12 million per year, with roughly half being appropriated. Additionally, a possible natural-gas franchise fee increase from approximately 1% to 3% was mentioned, estimated to generate around $1.2 million [^1]. The City Manager's recommended budget is set to be published on September 3, with deliberations continuing through the fall [^1].

[^1]: [Fort Collins City Council — 2026-07-14 work_session recording](https://reflect-vod-fcgov.cablecast.tv/store-4/3013-2026-07-14-Council-v2/vod.m3u8)

## Sources

- [https://reflect-vod-fcgov.cablecast.tv/store-4/3013-2026-07-14-Council-v2/vod.m3u8](https://reflect-vod-fcgov.cablecast.tv/store-4/3013-2026-07-14-Council-v2/vod.m3u8)

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