2025 Citywide Context, Strategic Planning & Budget Process
ABOUT BOULDER
Boulder has over 300 miles of public hiking and biking trails, and its mountain parks and open space holdings receive well over five million visits per year. Boulder was one of the first cities in the nation to offer curbside recycling, a dedicated sales tax to preserve and maintain open space, and to mandate a residential green building code. The city is currently home to major federal labs, a world-class research university, iconic cultural institutions, a highly educated population, and a strong entrepreneurial force that creates a vibrant and sustainable economy. Major industries include aerospace, bioscience, software, natural products, renewable energy, and tourism. This diversity has contributed to Boulder’s robust local economy with a population just over 100,000. Boulder’s unemployment rate trends lower than the state and national rates and local real estate values are particularly strong in the current market.
The city has received numerous awards including, but not limited to:
• #2 Best Place to Live for Quality of Life in the U.S. – U.S. News & World Report, 2022-2023
• #4 Best Place to Live in the U.S. - U.S. News & World Report, 2022-2023
• #3 America’s Best Bike Networks for a Midsize City - People for Bikes, 2022
• Outstanding Achievement in Local Government Innovation - Alliance for Innovation, July 2020
• What Works Cities Silver Certification 2020 - What Works Cities, June 2020
• Gold-level Walk Friendly Community - Walk Friendly Communities, May 2020

Boulder's History
The Boulder Valley was first the home of Native Americans, primarily the Southern Arapaho tribe who maintained a village near Haystack Mountain north of Boulder. Ute, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Sioux were occasional visitors to the area. In 1858, gold seekers established the first non-native settlement in Boulder County at Red Rocks, now named The People’s Crossing, near the entrance to Boulder Canyon. Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, Boulder became a supply base for miners in search of gold and silver, and railroad tracks were laid to provide service south to Golden, southeast to Denver, and west to the mining camps, expanding the city’s economic and social reach. In the 1890s, Boulder was a site for a Chautauqua, a traveling show providing education and entertainment, and Boulder residents voted to issue bonds to buy the land around what is now the historic Chautauqua Park.
Between 1920-1950, Boulder’s population grew from approximately 11,000 to 20,000. By 1950, Boulder leaders were actively recruiting new "clean" industry and improved transportation, securing a new highway, the Boulder-Denver Turnpike, and the National Bureau of Standards in 1952. In 1959, Boulder voters approved the “Blue Line” city-charter amendment, which restricted city water service to altitudes below 5,750 feet to protect the mountain backdrop from development. In 1967, Boulder became the first city in the nation to institute a dedicated sales tax to purchase open space lands. With the adoption of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan in 1970, passage of the building height restriction ordinance in 1972, historic preservation code in 1974, and the residential growth management ordinance in 1977, Boulder began a period of infill and re-use of its past architectural development which continues to present.
In 1999, an inclusionary zoning ordinance was adopted, requiring 20 percent of new residential development to be permanently affordable for low to moderate income households. The city adopted Zero Waste principles in 2005 and passed a municipal carbon tax in 2008 to counteract climate change. Most recently, in 2021, Boulder voters approved the renewal of the 0.3% dedicated sales tax, the Community, Culture, Resilience, and Safety Tax, to fund critical city infrastructure projects and a grant pool to support non-profits serving the people of Boulder.
City of Boulder Government
The City of Boulder has a Council-Manager form of government. Under this form of government, the elected nine-member City Council sets the policies for the operations of the Boulder government while the administrative responsibilities of the city rest with the council-appointed City Manager. The City Council also appoints the City Attorney and the Municipal Judge. The City Council selects both a Mayor and a Mayor Pro Tem from among the council members, both of whom serve two-year terms. Council members are elected at-large and are non-partisan. The City’s organization chart is presented below.

STRATEGIC PLANNING & BUDGET PROCESS
Budgeting for Resilience & Equity and the Long-Term Financial Strategy
The City of Boulder developed the 2025 Budget in alignment with the Sustainability, Equity, & Resilience (SER) Framework. The city's SER Framework comprises seven outcomes necessary for Boulder’s vision of a great community.
The City is in the third and final year of a three-year implementation plan to shift from a more traditional incremental-based budgeting approach to an enhanced outcome-based budgeting approach. This approach, called Budgeting for Resilience and Equity, incorporates better performance metrics and identifies outcomes, advances cross-department and -program collaboration, and increases the transparency of the development of the annual budget and our investments as they align with community goals.
- In 2022, year 1 of this effort, staff implemented a new budgeting software and transparency tool, OpenGov; identified program areas within each department and cross-departmentally across the organization; and aligned the newly identified city programs and budgets to the city’s SER Framework. This effort supported heightened transparency of the city’s budget by further understanding the allocation of resources and demonstrating how our investments aligned to the seven community goal areas within the framework.
- In 2023, year 2 of the implementation, the city added further specificity by developing intended outcomes for each program area in the city and added performance measures or a plan to develop performance measures to be able to assess the future impact of our investments. Year 2 also marked the first year the city worked directly with Community Connectors-in-Residence (CC-in-Rs) and their communities to incorporate their input and priorities into the 2024 budget development process.
- Year 3, the final year of implementation, focused on the refinement of identified outcomes and the further development of program measures for 2025 budget. As a result of staff efforts in this final year of implementation of Budgeting for Resilience & Equity, the city has established its first comprehensive citywide inventory of outcomes, measures and targets through a Budgeting for Resilience & Equity Dashboard aligned to program areas and the SER Framework. These outcomes and measures were utilized during 2025 budget decision-making to prioritize program areas for realignments of existing dollars toward areas in the greatest demand or need.
In addition to this refinement, the city unveiled a new Citywide Strategic Plan that presents a three-year plan with 15 strategies, each with priority action steps, aligned to the SER Framework. In the 2025 budget development process, budget priorities and requests were aligned to the Citywide Strategic Plan strategies and priority action steps, where applicable, and considered during budget decision-making. The Citywide Strategic Plan serves to bridge the gap between long-term plans, such as the SER Framework and Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, and annual department plans. Department programs, and associated outcomes and measures, align to the Citywide Strategic Plan, and those strategies further align and support the greater citywide framework.
This three-year implementation effort has enabled the city to heighten transparency of the allocation of its resources, begin the journey to enhanced data-driven decision-making, and have greater and shared alignment to community and citywide goals. Particularly relevant in constrained times, this initiative and annual practice will support the city in prioritizing community and organizational needs, considering trade-offs, and further understanding the impact of our budget allocations into the future. While this year marks the third and final year of implementation, the city will continue to build its practice, iterate, evaluate, and improve Budgeting for Resilience & Equity each year.
Long-Term Financial Strategy & Planning
The Long-Term Financial Strategy builds upon prior policy guidance related to sustainable funding for the City of Boulder. The city commissioned a Blue-Ribbon Commission (BRC) on Revenue Stabilization in 2008 that developed a comprehensive report related to sustainable revenue and budgeting approaches. The BRC issued reports in 2008 and 2010, calling for a comprehensive financial plan, the realignment of resources to better meet community goals, warned against the over-reliance on retail sales tax and dedicated funding sources, and encouraged the city to pursue a performance measurement system related to budget.
To further this work, the city established a Financial Strategy Committee in 2019 to serve as an advisory group to support the development and oversight of a long-term financial strategy. Shortly thereafter, due to the onset of the pandemic, the city shifted into a position of response and reactiveness. In 2022, staff reengaged this effort by elevating recommendations from the BRC reports and initiating the three-year implementation plan for BRE outcomes-based budgeting approach in alignment with the greater SER Framework. Staff also performed a dedicated funding analysis, which highlighted the approximately 68% of all city funding that is dedicated or restricted for a specific purpose. Dedicated revenues restrict flexibility of funding to meet community priorities of the moment. For sales and use tax, the single largest source of revenue for the city, approximately 56% of revenues are dedicated to specific uses. Given the city’s reliance on dedicated funding, it is extremely important to maximize the use of these resources as aligned with community expectations, council priorities and citywide needs.
While the General Fund tends to receive a majority of the discussion due to its flexibility of use and funding of core governmental services, such as public safety, parks, human services, and homelessness services, other funding sources – including those supporting transportation, parks, housing, and facilities and fleet – have become more strained in recent years due to the rising costs of performing core service operations and supporting community needs and citywide goals.
As outlined in the BRC and a guiding principle, the Long-Term Financial Strategy aims to support revenue stability and sufficiency, which would look to rebalance revenue structures, research alternative funding mechanisms, and outline key ballot strategies.
The Long-Term Financial Strategy contains several key components, including the following:
- Establish a Long-Term Financial Plan that outlines guiding principles, performs a current state assessment, recommends updates to financial policies and commitments to best practices, and future strategic steps. Staff has begun this work and aims to finalize the Long-Term Financial Plan in the fall of 2024, which will serve as a strategic planning document to guide the financial strategy forward and provide supporting direction on and priorities of future action steps.
- Conduct a Comprehensive Fee Inventory and Study to identify true cost of service levels and establish citywide policies and practices related to fees and fee updates. Work will begin this fall to inventory current fees and methodologies, assess and priorities updates, and determine needs for fee studies. Staff anticipates completing this work by quarter 2 of 2025.
- Define Core Service Levels to understand service level requirements across the organization. This action step will involve community engagement to gather valuable input on community priorities. Staff anticipates completing this action step during 2025.
- Explore Alternative Funding Mechanisms to support core city services and community needs. This action step will include analyzing funding mechanisms, researching funding opportunities, and identifying strategic revenue sources to consider. Staff will begin this work in the fall of 2024 with a goal of completion during 2025.
- Refine Citywide Financial Policies to perform updates in support of the Long-Term Financial Plan’s guiding principles. This effort is currently underway, and staff anticipates completing this by quarter 1 of 2025.
- Develop a Ballot Measure Strategy for 2025 and 2026. This effort will include Financial Strategy Committee and Council review in the 2025 ballot measures planning and 2026 annual budget discussions.
These goals and action steps outlined in the Long-Term Financial Strategy will guide future decision making, both within the budget and as we approach major policy issues that implicate the city’s long-term financial health. This comprehensive strategy will help guide us forward as we seek to establish an equitable, resilient, and stable fiscal strategy to meet our greatest needs as a community.

Budget Development Process
The City operates on an annual budget process with the fiscal year aligned with the calendar year. The coming year’s budget is adopted by December 1, as provided by the City Charter. Once adopted, within the parameters of policy guidelines, departments are given full spending authority for their approved budget appropriation.
The City of Boulder Charter establishes the budget process timeline. The budget development schedule is designed to fit within the charter mandate and to allow for active and early participation by the City Council and the community. As shown in the chart below, the City’s budget is developed throughout the year, with the most concentrated effort spent between March and October.
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In January, the City Council and City Management perform an annual retreat to discuss and set priorities.
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From January through May, departments perform budget planning and development in preparation for budget request submittals in May.
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In June, the Central Budget Office receives budget requests from departments, then reviews and develops analyses on submittals, and provides summaries and recommendations to the Executive Budget Team. The Executive Budget Team comprises the City Manager, Deputy City Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Human Resources Director, and two rotating department directors.
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In July, the Executive Budget Team performs a review and approval of budget submittals and the annual budget package.
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In September, the City Manager’s Recommended Budget, including the six-year Capital Improvement Program, is publicly released and presented to the City Council during a council study session.
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In October, the budget and annual appropriation ordinances for the upcoming fiscal year are considered by City Council and adopted during budget readings. Public hearings are held during Council budget readings, which provides the opportunity for the community to comment on the Recommended Budget.
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Once approved by City Council, the Central Budget Office compiles the Approved Budget document and publishes the document before the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Budget Amendments
The City uses the annual comprehensive budget development process to craft the annual recommended budget submitted for City Council consideration and approval each October. However, there are opportunities during the fiscal year for changes to the annual appropriation approved by City Council, such as unanticipated expenses or new mid-year initiatives. The City schedules two budget supplementals, or adjustments-to-base, in May and November of each fiscal year for Council consideration to incorporate these appropriation changes to the approved budget.
Budget Philosophy
Municipal budgets serve several important functions. In addition to laying out a basic spending plan for the city and allocating resources to meet the diverse needs of the community, Boulder’s budget:
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Is a principal policy and management tool for the city’s administration, reflecting and defining the annual work program;
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Provides a framework for the city to accomplish its vision: “service excellence for an inspired future”; and
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Reflects core city values of customer service, respect, integrity, collaboration, and innovation.
The city takes seriously its responsibility to the community as a steward of public funds, which is likewise reflected in its philosophy and approach to the budget process. The City of Boulder holds itself to the standard of providing high-quality services at reasonable cost. City staff have accepted these interrelated challenges, developing the budget within the context of searching for creative solutions for the efficient and effective delivery of city services. As such, the budget:
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Is based on timely, consistent, and clearly articulated policies;
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Is realistic and includes adequate resources to meet assigned work programs;
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Is a cooperative, citywide effort grounded in teamwork, excellent communication, community outreach,
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Emphasizes measures to improve the productivity and effectiveness of service delivery to residents.
Budget Basis
Budgets are prepared on a modified accrual basis except for outstanding encumbrances, which are budgeted as expenditures. Simply, this means obligations of the city are budgeted as expenditures, but revenues are recognized only when they are measurable and available. “Measurable” means the amount of the transaction can be determined and “available” means collectible within the current period or soon enough thereafter to be used to pay liabilities of the current period. Expenditures are generally recorded when a liability is incurred.
The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) shows the status of the city’s finances on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In most cases, the ACFR conforms to the way the city also prepares the budget. One exception is compensated absences (accrued but unused vacation or sick leave), which are treated slightly different in the budget and in the ACFR.
Fund Financials & Fund Accounting
The City of Boulder has 41 funds subject to appropriation. The City's fund accounting is designed to demonstrate legal compliance and to aid financial management by separating transactions related to certain government functions. Funds are classified into three categories: governmental, proprietary, and fiduciary. Each category, in turn, is divided into separate fund types.
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Governmental funds are used to account for all or most of a government’s general activities, including the collection and disbursement of earmarked monies (special revenue funds), the acquisition or construction of general fixed assets (capital project funds), and the servicing of general long-term debt (debt service funds). The General Fund is used to account for all activities of the general government, not accounted for in another fund.
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Proprietary funds are used to account for activities like those found in the private sector and where the determination of net income is necessary or useful to sound financial administration. Goods or services from such activities can be provided either to outside parties (enterprise funds) or to other departments or agencies primarily within the government (internal service funds). The city applies all applicable Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) pronouncements, issued prior to November 30, 1989, and General Accounting Standards Board (GASB) statements since that date in accounting and reporting for its proprietary operations.
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Fiduciary funds are used to account for assets held on behalf of outside parties, including other governments, or on behalf of other funds within the government. When these assets are held under the terms of a formal trust agreement, a pension trust fund must be used. Agency funds are generally used to account for assets the government holds on behalf of others as their agent.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Summary
CIP BY DEPARTMENT
Community, Culture, Resilience & Safety Tax Projects
APPENDIX
Adopted Budget Reconciliation & Ordinance
Codified Fees, Rates & Charges