Small Colorado Town is Rolling in the Money
Published by CBS4 Denver
— April 29, 2009 — While many cities and towns are struggling in the recession, one town in northern Colorado has far more money coming in than it's ever had before -- Timnath.
Most towns probably start their sales tax base with smaller stores, a few restaurants, or perhaps a gas station on the interstate, but not Timnath, which is located southeast of Fort Collins. Timnath’s first real source of sales tax is a Wal-Mart Supercenter, which opened Wednesday morning.
Timnath is still a very small town—fewer than 500 people live there, but that’s twice the population of three years ago.
“This can and it will change the whole town because the town’s laid out a whole plan, and this gives us a way to fund that plan,” Timnath Mayor Donna Benson said.
Benson says the million dollars a year the Wal-Mart is expected to collect for Timnath made a bond issue possible that’s starting to fund more than $12 million in town improvements, like upgrading the old bridge over the Poudre River.
“That’s a $4.5 million new bridge that we’re totally funding with this,” Benson said. “We’re bringing in sewer, the first phase of that, to Old Town, and we’re also doing some flood mitigation.”
Some shoppers from nearby towns say they’re fine with Timnath getting the taxes if they get the convenience.
“It’s directly on the way home, so don’t have to do anything but take a left into the parking lot,” Fort Collins resident Stacy Tyler said.
“Being from smaller towns in this area, we all have had to shop in Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland, and I’d like to see the other smaller communities get some of the tax revenues from it,” Fort Collins resident Wendy Seaman said.
Timnath is also benefiting from some grant money from Wal-Mart. The company has given more than $30,000, including, among others, funds for a new park and grants for nearby schools.
