The City of Fountain (herein, “the City”) is by charter a Home Rule City with a council-manager form of government. Essentially, this means that the City is governed by a mayor and six councilmembers who answer to and work for the citizens of Fountain. A city manager is appointed by the City Council to run the day-to-day operations of the City departments.

The term of office is four years for councilmembers and two years for mayor. The Mayor and three members of the Council are elected at-large, and three are elected from the wards in which they live. Council elections are non-partisan.

April 18 to

May 17 Finance Director prepares revenue projections

May 17 Budget Work Session with City Council to discuss priorities

May 18 to

May 31 Coordinate Council priorities with the Strategic Plan

May 20 to

June 20 Departments prepare new staffing requests and Finance prepares salary and benefit budgets

May 20 to

June 17 Departments develop budget requests

June 21 to

July 29 Finance review and meetings with each Department

August 1 to

August 5 Capital requests and documents are due from Departments

August 8 to

August 19 Refine department budgets, synchronize requests and budget document with the strategic plan

August 22 to

September 14 Format and prepare draft budget document for work session with City Council

September 29 Meet with City Council in a public work session to discuss draft budget proposal

October 13 2nd public work session with City Council

October 25 Public Hearing and First Reading of Budget Ordinance

Public Hearing on GID#1 and #2

November 15 Second Reading of Budget Ordinance

Year founded: 1859 (Incorporation in 1903)

Population: 30,735 (estimated in 2019)

Area: 22.08 square miles

Elevation: 5,546 feet

Latitude: 30 501 '50" north

Longitude: 104 50 '25" west

Fountain is located 10 miles south of Colorado Springs and 30 miles north of Pueblo along I-25 and Colorado's Rocky Mountain Front Range. Fountain residents enjoy the scenic view of Pikes Peak and a slower, small town lifestyle steeped in frontier town and ranching roots.

Parks and Recreation

Miles of trails and bike paths: 50

Parks: Over 1000 acres of parks including ten mini-pavilions, six large pavilions, one large gazebo, one skateboard park, multiple baseball and softball fields, one riding and roping arena, a Splash Park, one dog park, and numerous other facilities.

Cost of Living

Colorado Springs area cost of living (Source: ACCRA): End of 2021 was 6.8% above the national average, however, Fountain was 8% below the national average. The Fountain Valley area is generally lower than Colorado Springs' due to lower housing costs (the median price of homes in Fountain is more than $30,000 less than in Colorado Springs).

The median home price in the Fountain 80817 zip code is averaging $418,618 (Zillow.com, 2022 ) with an average of $246 per sq. ft. according to local economists. According to "Sperlings Best Places to Live", Fountain ranks in the top 25 places in the USA. Household income is 6% above the national average.

Background

Incorporated in 1903, the City of Fountain is a full-service municipality with its own electric and water utilities. The Mayor and a six-member City Council govern the city with advisory boards and commissions such as the Planning Commission, Park and Recreation Board, and the Economic Development Committee. The City Manager administers all the departments. Fountain is a Home Rule City and is one of the fastest growing communities in El Paso County. The City maintains a number of comprehensive plans and master plans that are used as guides for planning. Other documents for good planning include Transportation Master Plan, Trails Master Plan, Comprehensive Development Plan, Population Projections, Fountain Strategic Downtown Plan, Water System Master Plan, and Water Resources Study. All these plans are online at www.fountaincolorado.org.

Historic Fountain. Fountain can trace its roots to the Ute Indians choosing the confluence of Jimmy Camp Creek and Fountain Creek as wintering grounds. Rich with game, trappers followed and set up trading posts along the Fountaine Qui Bouille or “bubbling springs.”

Trappers and Traders. There are many stories about Jimmy's Camp, a trading post said to connect the forts on the Plains to forts on the front range of the Rockies. Some say Jimmy was an Irishman, some say a soldier, and others say a trader. His camp lay along the creek on "Trappers Trail," Cherokee Trail," or "Jimmy's Camp Trail," depending on whose version is told. All agree Jimmy was killed in his camp around 1842, but every tale tells a different version of "who dun it!"

Pony Express. Fountain is said to have had a Pony Express Stop at one of its first houses, which doubled as a post office. Mail later came by rail. The post office moved to Barney's Food Market on Main Street in 1926. The first post office in El Paso County was in Fountain Valley, and Fountain's post office remains the oldest one in the County.

Stage Coach Route. A stage coach road connected Canyon City and Denver in 1873. The Colorado gold rush increased its patronage, and coaches ran day and night stopping only to switch horses or allow buffalo herds to pass...our first traffic jams! Eventually, stage coaches gave way to rail.

Deep Roots in Ranching. Settlers arrived in covered wagons, farms sprang up, and soon the valley was alive with cattle, dairies, and merchants. The main crops were sugar beets, cherries, beans, grain, corn, and alfalfa. In 1919, the town was still surrounded by farms, and the irrigation ditches still flow today.

Founded 1859. The town of Fountain was founded the same year as Colorado City, Denver, Golden, and Central City. It was built with the idea it would some day be the biggest city in the state, possibly the state capitol – even then the town had big ideas!

The BIG Blast!!! But the big idea went up in smoke, quite literally, in 1888 when a train broke loose in Colorado Springs, gained speed approaching Fountain, and slammed into a rail car. The fire spread to a car full of explosives, and the blast was felt 13 miles north in Colorado Springs. Residents of Monument, 33 miles to the north, reported it woke almost everyone in town! Today, Fountain’s Annual “Main Street Blast" Dance is held in the heart of historical downtown. Fountain rebuilt itself and was incorporated as a town in 1903; it remains one of the oldest incorporated towns in the Pikes Peak region.

New Neighbor. Named after Kit Carson, Fort Carson was founded in 1942 and has played a major role in the community. Between 1942 and 1956, a common sight would be trains of up to 300 mules carrying equipment, weapons, and supplies over mountainous terrain. For 13 years the mule Hambone carried supplies for Fort Carson and was buried with full military honors. Today, "the Mountain Post" has close to 65,000 soldiers and associated family members.

Climate

Coldest Month: January

Average Low Temperature: 21 degrees

Warmest Month: July

Average High Temperature: 85 degrees

Annual Avg. Days of Sunshine: 248

Annual Average Humidity: 38%-68%

Average Wind Speed: 20.89 m.p.h

Annual Average Snowfall: 20.8"

Annual Average Precipitation: 19.23”