Swim beach in Loveland falls victim to the Northern Colorado city's wide-ranging budget cuts
This sign that reads, "see you next season" at the former Lake Loveland Swim Beach has a promise that won't be fulfilled. There will be no next season because the Loveland Swim Beach is closed. It's a victim of the multimillion-dollar budget shortfall the City of Loveland is facing.
The city says the cost of maintaining the beach and hiring staff to keep people safe while swimming is too expensive. Instead, they have elected to reshape the shoreline with massive boulders. It's an effort to make that side of the lake look more like a shoreline and less like a swim area to deter people from going out and trying to get in the water. The reshaping had a one-time cost of $20,000.
That's not the only cut beginning in this new year. The Chilson Recreation Center's hours have changed. The Loveland Museum entry fee has gone up and its hours have been reduced and the Loveland Public Library's hours and services have been reduced among many cuts.
That's a huge problem for Brittany Vogt, who says the library plays a crucial role in her life.
"I don't often use the swim beach at all. But I use the library pretty regularly, like once a week, usually," said Vogt. "I spend a lot of time here working on classwork or, just a place to hang out until my work starts, and now I can't do that."
These services weren't eliminated without a fight. In 2023 voters decided to eliminate the 3% grocery tax in the city. The city says that's what caused the budget shortfall. In 2024 the city put a sales tax increase proposal before voters. Voters said they didn't want to raise sales tax from 3% to the proposed 4%, so cuts had to be made.
Brittany says all these cuts are going to affect the most vulnerable people in her community.
"I think it affects people who don't have access to things. So middle class, poor people and not so much the rich people," said Vogt.