2025 Budget in Brief

The 2025 Approved Budget totals $589.5 million across all funds, including Governmental, Enterprise, Internal Service, and Capital Improvement funds.

The 2025 Approved Operating Budget of $399.3 million represents a 1.3% year-over-year increase when excluding debt service and internal service charges. Primary drivers for increases are due to planned debt service for the South Boulder Creek Utilities Flood Mitigation Project and the Alpine-Balsam Western City Campus development and increases to internal services charges such as fleet and equipment replacements, technology services and systems, and facilities maintenance. The 2025 Capital Budget of $189.9 million represents a 34.7% increase compared to 2024, and the 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Program includes $807.1 million in planned spending across the six years. The 2025 General Fund Budget totals $210.9 million, representing a 7.5% increase from the 2024 Approved Budget, primary supporting one-time investments in fleet and facilities maintenance ($4.9 million) and planned debt service ($6.2 million). The 2025 Approved Budget performs strategic one-time investments and ongoing support to advance equity, safety, and livability initiatives. A summary of budget highlights can be found on the 2025 Budget Highlights page.

The Budget in Brief provides a breakdown of citywide sources, or revenues, and uses, or expenditures, within the 2025 Approved Budget.

Sources (Revenues)

Citywide Sources

The 2025 Approved Budget is based on projected citywide revenues of $492.5 million, representing a 6.6% increase from the total revenues included in the 2024 Approved Budget. Revenue projections included in the 2025 Approved Budget represent a moderate economic outlook, including flattening sales and use tax projections, and reduced property taxes due to property tax legislation passed during the regular 2024 legislative session. Staff continue to monitor potential legislation and 2024 ballot initiatives given current property tax uncertainty. Year-over-year increases in anticipated revenues are mainly due to an increase in expected payments in cash-in-lieu supporting affordable housing and intergovernmental revenues from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for several different grants, totaling $13.8M, including grants supporting transportation projects such as Baseline ($3.1M), Safe Streets 4 All (SS4A - $2.5M), Broadway BAT Lanes ($2.4M) and East Arapahoe ($2.3).

Several economic factors were considered during 2025 budget development, including: inflation slowing and the subsequent impact on sales and use tax revenues, national and regional slowdown in retail sales, uncertainty in property tax revenues due to State legislation and 2024 ballot measures, and the State of Colorado experiencing a tight labor market compared to the rest of the nation.

A significant change to the city's sales & use tax was approved by voters in November 2023, dedicating half of 0.15% General Fund sales tax to fund for arts, culture, and heritage, and extending the other half to support public safety, human services, and other general government purposes.

Additional detail on the City's primary funding sources, sales & use taxes and property tax, can be found on the 2025 Budget in Brief - Continued page.

Combined Budget Summary - Sources

The total revenue budget of for 2025 is $492.5 million, which differs from the total sources within the below Combined Budget Summary table because the total revenue budget of $492.5 million excludes Internal Services funds and transfers between funds, with the exception of the transfer to the Medical Insurance Fund, which ended in 2024. Internal Service funds and transfers are excluded to avoid double-counting revenues in originating and receiving funds. Thus, the total revenue budget figure of $492.5 million reflects the total anticipated revenues to perform city services for the 2025 fiscal year.

Citywide Sources excluding Utilities

Citywide Sources, excluding Utilities, represents a total of $386.8 million. The chart below represents citywide revenue sources without Water, Wastewater, or Stormwater and Flood Management Utilities Funds. The primary reason these three funds are excluded in this total because utility rates are based on direct usage of the water, wastewater, and stormwater systems and are not reflective of economic conditions. Excluding Utilities, the two largest revenue sources for the city are sales and use taxes and property tax, representing 62.0% of total revenues for the 2025 Approved Budget.

General Fund Sources

The 2025 Approved Budget is based on projected General Fund revenues of $190.6 million, which represents an 4.9% decrease from total revenues approved in the 2024 Budget. This year-over-year decrease is largely driven by a one-time reimbursement of $13.0 million from the Library District budgeted in 2024. Contributing to the decline are projected decreases in sales and use taxes (-2%), primarily due to the dedication of sales & use tax to arts, culture, and heritage, and property taxes (-3%) due to 2024 legislation.

Uses (Expenditures)

Citywide Uses

The total 2025 Approved Budget is $589.5 million across all funds which represents a 14.4% increase from the 2024 Approved Budget. While increased investments support base cost increases such as internal services and planned debt service, as well as additional capital maintenance and infrastructure investments, the 2025 Approved Budget continues to honor existing commitments by advancing key community and council priorities, particularly around equity, safety, and livability

Examples of investments included in the 2025 Budget include:

Increased investments for housing affordability to advance the development and rehabilitation of over 140 affordable housing units ($12.2 million)
Significant one-time investments in capital maintenance needs to help the city maintain well its current infrastructure and service to the community ($4.3 million)
Increased one-time funding for the Equity Office to support the creation of an Immigration Legal Defense Fund ($50,000), training and policy analysis focused on public safety and code enforcement activities ($50,000), and diagnostic cultural competency assessments ($50,000)
Meaningful ongoing and one-time increases to human services-related community programs and rental assistance services ($515,000)
$121,000 in investments in Community Wildfire Resilience with a two-year fixed-term project coordinator
Continuation of $40,000 in one-time programmatic funding and a one-year renewal of a part-time support position for Community Connectors and inclusive engagement
Key safety investments to support disaster management planning ($80,000), civilian police staffing advancing the Reimagine Policing efforts ($131,000), wellness programming and workforce development for Fire-Rescue staff ($350,000), and permanent enhancements to urban rangers staffing and the Safe & Managed Spaces Program ($515,300)

The 2025 budget development process emphasized realignments of existing dollars across program areas to support prioritized program outcomes as aligned to the SER Framework and as established in Budgeting for Resilience & Equity efforts. The expectation around budget realignments was particularly important given our current budgeting environment and limited availability of ongoing dollars. The 2025 budget includes approximately $3.0 million of reallocated funding between program areas to support prioritized outcomes.

This year departments submitted at least three outcomes and measures per program that were in alignment with the City’s Sustainability, Equity, and Resiliency Framework to help measure program performance and success. This is an ongoing process for the improvement and transparency of the prioritization of use of city funds. The full inventory of outcomes and measures can be found on the Budgeting for Resilience and Equity page of the City of Boulder's website.

Combined Budget Summary - Uses

The total budget of $589.5 million, referenced above, differs with the total uses within the below Combined Budget Summary - Uses table, totaling $718.7 million, because the total budget figures exclude Internal Services funds and transfers between funds. Internal Service funds and transfers are excluded to avoid double-counting expenditures in originating and receiving funds. Thus, the total budget referenced above of $589.5 million reflects the true cost of the organization's operations by excluding double-counted expenses between funds and reflects total anticipated expenses of performing city services for the 2025 fiscal year.

Additional detail on the city's key budget assumptions and a summary of all funds subject to appropriation can be found on the 2025 Budget in Brief - Continued page.

Citywide Uses, Excluding Utilities Funds

The 2025 Approved Budget, excluding the three Utilities Funds, totals $461.6 million, representing a 15.3% increase from the 2024 Budget. The figure below represents citywide expenditures without Water, Wastewater, or Stormwater and Flood Management Utilities Funds, which are supported through user fees.

General Fund Uses (Expenditures)

The 2025 General Fund Approved Budget is $210.9 million, representing a 7.5% increase compared to the total 2024 General Fund Approved Budget. This increase is attributed to key and strategic investments in community priorities and citywide core services such as:

Additional Human Services Funding ($200,000) for additional human services grants for non-profit organizations
Additional funding for Office of Equity & Belonging ($250,000) for the creation of an Immigration Legal Defense Fund, public safety training, and cultural competency assessments
Office of Independent Police Monitor Enhancements ($63,400) for civilian oversight training and Police Oversight Panel funding
Fire-Rescue Apparatus Replacements ($3.3 million) to address underfunded fleet replacements backlog
Facilities Capital Maintenance Support ($1.0 million) to support underfunded building maintenance
Reimagine Policing Plan Advancements ($239,500) for new civilian staffing and victim services support
Inclusive Engagement for the Community Connectors Program ($40,000)

As seen in the chart below, primary year-over-year increases are attributed to public safety, Fire-Rescue and Police, and the General Government program, which supports debt service payments, transfers, as well as base cost rentals supporting leases associated with the Boulder Municipal Property Authority Fund.

Staffing Levels by Department

The 2025 Approved Budget includes a total city staffing level of 1,539.10 full-time equivalents (FTEs), an increase of 2.0% from 2024 Approved staffing levels. There are additions of 24.35 FTEs across 13 departments. These staffing increases reflect strategic staffing capacity increases for new and enhanced community investments and programs. A calculated estimate of 192.21 non-standard staff, or seasonal and temporary employees, is included in the 2025 Approved Budget, mostly within the Open Space and Parks & Recreation Departments. Non-standard staff provide a needed supplement to standard staff on a seasonal basis, largely in the summer.

Historical Staffing

One measure of personnel cost pressure is the size of city staff, which is measured by standard full-time equivalents (FTEs). The 2025 Approved Budget includes a citywide staffing level of 1,539.10 FTEs. As seen in the chart below, the city manages staffing levels in connection with changing economic conditions and revenue projections.