Parks & Recreation

2025 Budget:

$44,562,212

153.25 FTE

Department Overview:

Boulder Parks and Recreation (BPR) promotes the health and well-being of the entire Boulder community by collaboratively providing high-quality parks, facilities, and programs. This mission will be accomplished through sustainable practices, partnerships, continuous improvement and a focus on the common good, service excellence and with health at the core of all we do.

BPR staff manage over 1,800 acres of urban parkland. They also oversee three recreation centers, two outdoor pools, the Boulder Reservoir, Flatirons Golf Course, Valmont City Park and the Pearl Street Mall. Across the parks and facilities, BPR delivers a variety of recreation programing such as swim lessons, camps, sports, therapeutic recreation, wellness, and youth outreach.

 

The 2022 Department Plan, developed with extensive input from the community, continues to guide BPR decisions, investments and operations. BPR remains focused on implementing key initiatives and goals from the 2022 BPR Plan, while ensuring alignment with the citywide Sustainability, Resilience and Equity (SER) Framework. BPR’s work contributes to each SER goal in different ways but our work most strongly aligns with fostering a “Healthy and Socially Thriving Community” through careful stewardship of greenspaces and public spaces. We are committed to advancing equity through inclusive engagement practices and by utilizing the Racial Equity Instrument to understand who benefits and who is impacted by funding and policy decisions. The 2025 budget focuses money where it will have the most impact to our community. It supports program expansion for recreation in growing areas, addresses cost escalation, and provides funding for prioritized maintenance projects and equipment replacement across the system to support “Taking Care of What We Have.” BPR's budget supports:

 

• Access to safe and welcoming parks and facilities.
• Access for historically excluded community members.
• Maintaining service levels for recreation programs and facilities.
• Prioritizing investment in taking care of parks and facilities so they last longer and can support more play.

 

Summary of 2025 Budget Enhancements and Realignments:

1) Supports a Ranger program of 3.0 FTE and maintains seasonal staffing from April to November to sustain existing operational hours and increase capacity for education and positive community interactions ($469,000).

 

2) Realigns historically unspent budget allocation to support the non-personnel needs associated with the Urban Rangers program ($91,000).

 

3) Transfers approximately $2.1 million in funding from the .25 Cent Sales Tax Fund to the Recreation Activity Fund to support athletic field and sports complex maintenance and community benefit services. 

 

4) Allows for BPR to maintain EXPAND’s internship program which supports programming for our youth, teens and those with disabilities ($10,000).

 

5) Changes Landscape Architect Senior FTE from fixed term to permanent ($162,000).

 

6) Includes increases to seasonal staffing to budget for a potential increase to minimum wage ($215,000). 

 

7) Includes an appropriation of $500,000 associated with the sale of the Broncos to implement early recommendations from the Child Friendly City Initiative. 

 

Department Programs:

• Administration
• Community Building & Partnership
• Natural Resources
• Park Operations
• Planning, Design & Construction
• Recreation Operations
• Urban Park Rangers