The petition is seeking signatures from Longmont citizens only. 

Your signature on this petition is a show of support for the proposed Charter amendment.  This is NOT the official petition that will gather signatures for the November ballot.  

The primary objective of this Charter amendment is to provide greater transparency and local control regarding airport expansion and taxpayer-funded airport subsidies. Voter approval would be required in order to accept certain taxpayer-funded airport subsidies. 

The Charter amendment summary:

Shall the City of Longmont Home Rule Charter be amended by adding a new article XVII to require the City of Longmont to obtain approval by a two-thirds vote of the electorate at a regular municipal election prior to approval or acceptance of certain taxpayer-funded airport subsidies, including:

1.) any subsidy from the General Fund, and

2.) any federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant.

The proposed Charter amendment full text shall be as follows:

ARTICLE XVII. – LONGMONT AIRPORT ACCOUNTABILITY AND LOCAL CONTROL ACT

17.1 Purpose - 

To provide improved transparency and local control regarding airport expansion and taxpayer-funded airport subsidies.

17.2 Findings -

The people of Longmont hereby make the following findings with respect to the Longmont Municipal Airport, also known as Vance Brand Airport, and herein referred to as the “Airport”:

a.    The General Fund budget includes services typically associated with local government such as police, fire, parks, recreation, youth and senior services, planning, code enforcement, building inspection, library, museum and economic development. In addition, the General Fund includes support services that are provided to all of the other City funds and departments, including human resources, finance, city attorney, information services, facilities maintenance, city clerk and city manager.

b. The Airport Enterprise Fund has received both direct and indirect taxpayer-funded subsidies from the General Fund, without citizen consent.  Indirect subsidies are granted through discounts to fees that are incurred by the airport, for example, the annual discount of the Administrative Transfer Fee.

c. Longmont citizens should decide whether or not to grant subsidies to the airport from the General Fund. 

d. Longmont citizens should decide whether or not to allow airport expansion.  Airport expansion results in increased negative, unregulated environmental impacts to the community.  This Initiative ensures that Longmont citizens widely approve of airport expansion projects as a precondition of expansion projects.

e. Longmont citizens should decide whether to restore local control of the airport or instead accept federal grant funds, which prevents local control. When Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant monies are utilized for capital improvements, the City of Longmont agrees to abide by onerous provisions called “grant assurances,” which prevent local control to regulate aircraft noise and other pollution, including leaded aviation fuel emissions.  General Aviation airports that are not federally funded can regulate some aircraft operations, including limits on hours of operation and nighttime curfews. 

17.3 Policy -

It shall hereby be the policy of the City of Longmont that prior to approval or acceptance of any airport subsidy from either the General Fund or Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant, the City of Longmont shall obtain approval by a two-thirds vote of the electorate at a Regular Municipal Election. 

17.4 Retroactive Application -

In the event this measure is adopted by the voters, its provisions shall apply retroactively as of the date the measure was found to have qualified for placement on the ballot.