Top 3 issues for Lance Smith
Fiscal accountability
Housing affordability
Accessible public transit
By Chloe Waskey
The Ramspondents
Lance Smith is running for city council in Fort Collins’ third district in the Nov. 4 election. District 3 covers the southeastern region of Fort Collins from East Harmony Road and South College Avenue to Fossil Creek Reservoir.
Smith has worked in utilities for 25 years, including 12 years of work as a finance director for Fort Collins Utilities. As a city council member, Smith hopes to address fiscal accountability, housing and transit.
With a background in finance, Smith believes the current budget has not served Fort Collins residents and the city has been living beyond its means. While he would not have oversight over the 2026 fiscal budget, he said the city has not taken into account vulnerable populations when making budget cuts.
“In general, what I want is for city leadership to better align the budget reductions to be consistent with community and council priorities,” he said.
For Smith, city revenue and affordable housing are issues that can go hand in hand. Smith proposed prioritizing a healthy economy that would in turn generate tax revenue that could eventually be invested into affordable housing initiatives.
“We need an economy that's thriving, so that property taxes stay high and they will increase for the city, and then if we build more houses, then we will have more houses to collect property taxes,” Smith said. “So we don't necessarily need to just raise taxes. We need to help the economy thrive and try to solve our housing problem.”
Smith said additional housing solutions should focus on increasing access to homeownership as well as reducing financial burdens to renters.
“I think we really need to look at expanding the diversity of our housing,” Smith said. “I think we should look at down-payment assistance for folks so they can get into a home….We have to operate under the premise that rent rates are going to be determined by the market. Now, having said that, I think the city does have an opportunity to help keep folks in their rental housing and not be evicted, and we can do that through rent assistance.”
To help boost public transit and help reduce carbon emissions, Smith hopes to launch a public information campaign that would dissuade residents from using their cars. This initiative would come after efforts to add more bus routes and increase wages for bus drivers.
“We need to get folks to not pop in their car every time they want to go somewhere, and so we're going to need reliable transportation for that to happen,” Smith said. “So really, we're going to have to build it, demonstrate to folks that it is there and it's reliable, and then folks will use it.”
Smith pointed out that residents already pay taxes to fund public transport, so it is important for people to use it as a resource.
“Public transit is free right now in the sense that you can ride for free,” he said. “So really, we're all paying for it, whether we're using it or not.”
Voters can go to Smith’s campaign website or reach out directly at [email protected] for further information
Chloe Waskey is a CSU student majoring in Journalism and Media Communication with a minor in political science.