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| Fort Collins once again listed as a top place to live by Money magazine |
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Fort Collins has once appeared on Money magazine's list of best places to live -- at No. 6.
The Choice City topped the list in 2006, but slid to No. 2 in 2008 and then to No. 6 this year. The ranking of best small cities comes out every two years.
In ranking Fort Collins this year, Money editors highlighted two things: "Bikes and beer," calling the city a "high-end microbrew mecca" and saluting the 29 miles of in-city bike and pedestrian trails.
However, Fort Collins got dinged by the magazine:
"This idyllic town -- No. 1 in 2006 -- would rank even higher but for one thing. (No, it's not last summer's Balloon Boy hoax, perpetrated by the local Heene family.) Colorado schools are hurting. After the state sliced public schools budget this year, Fort Collins's Poudre School District laid off 139 full-time employees."
Loveland was ranked 33.
The Top 10 places are:
1. Eden Prairie, MN
2. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
3. Newton, MA
4. Bellevue, WA
5. McKinney, TX
6. Fort Collins, CO
7. Overland Park, KS
8. Fishers, IN
9. Ames, IA
10. Rogers, AR
This spring, PSD announced it was cutting the equivalent of 139 full-time positions, or about 3 percent of its staff, to help offset a $12 million budget shortfall. Eighty-six full-time equivalent positions are being lost at schools, 60 of which are teachers or licensed employees; 3.6 units are school administrators; and 22.4 units are paraprofessionals at schools.At the district level, 52 positions will be eliminated from all nonschool district departments, which could include transportation, integrated services, human resources or custodial help, officials said.Many of the cuts are coming through attrition and retirement, officials said.Last year, the district had 3,500 employees.
Source: Ft Collins Coloradoan
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