We are closing this gap in several ways: reducing costs, moving some existing funding to different uses and increasing some fees.
Budget Cuts
Every department across the organization was asked to submit proposals on how they could reduce their budgets. The recommended budget includes many of these reductions. Most are recurring savings rather than one-time cuts. This matters because each year’s budget builds on the year before it. If we do not identify ways to make most reductions ongoing, the gap the city must close each year that follows will become even bigger.
Service Impacts
Some of the reductions will impact services. Examples include:
- Elimination of the photo radar van program. Photo enforcement vans, which require onsite staffing and operation, represent outdated technology and are not addressing the most critical crash areas across our city. The Police Department will increase traffic patrols, when needed, to support neighborhood Vision Zero goals.
- Reduction in hours at the Scott Carpenter Pool during the “shoulder season.” The city will also need to reduce some indoor open swim and leisure pool hours during lower demand periods.
- Reduction in ongoing funding for Spruce Pool. The city will use one-time dollars to keep this pool open for one more year, but our community should understand that money is not currently available beyond that.
- Elimination of the child watch service at East Boulder Community Center based on underutilization of this program.
- Reductions in Nature-Based Climate Solutions consultant funding now that some previously funded studies have been completed.
- Reductions in the Flexible Rebate economic incentive program.
- Ongoing reduction of custodial services in city buildings going from five days to three.
- Postponement of a planned Design and Construction Standards Update for transportation needs to 2028.
- Modest reductions to the Boulder Walks Program; decreased funding will mean the city is less able to expand this program to new neighborhoods or bring on more volunteer walk leaders.
- A one-time reduction in cross-departmental contributions to a fund that covers new projects or repairs within city greenways.
People Impacts
Balancing the 2027 budget will also impact staff.
- The recommended budget would eliminate 24 positions. 13 of these are filled, which would result in layoffs. The other 11 are vacant positions that will be cut from the city’s roster.
- Another 27 employees are in term-limited positions that were scheduled to end this year or sometime in 2027. Historically, the city has been able to extend most of these positions if the work was still needed. The 2027 budget recommends extending 12 of these positions and converting three others to full-time standard positions. This means 12 additional employees will be leaving the organization when their current terms expire.
- The city recognizes that these decisions affect people and their families. The employees whose positions are being eliminated are valued colleagues who have contributed to the community. Resources are being offered to support their transition.
- The recommended 2027 budget also holds 8.5 other vacant positions frozen until 2028.
- Work these employees would have performed will either need to stop or be handled by remaining staff. The community should anticipate reduced service levels in these areas as a result.
Other Ways the City is Saving Money
While many departments already reduced their budgets in 2026 for office materials and supplies, printing, food for public events, business travel and training, some additional savings were identified for 2027. Several departments will also be cutting consultant budgets.
Using Existing Funds Differently
Some of the money needed to balance the General Fund is already in the city budget. We are changing how some of that money is used so it can support costs that were previously paid from the General Fund. Examples include:
- Increasing the share that the Open Space Tax covers for wildland firefighter salaries and benefits from 75% to 90%, recognizing that most of the work these staff members do is on open space property.
- Using revenue from the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Distribution Tax to fund existing health and well-being related programs, like the Youth Services Initiative, EXPAND and REquity, instead of subsidizing these through the General Fund. This means less of this tax revenue will be available for grants and new initiatives.
- Using some Climate Tax dollars to cover the costs of urban forestry and PLAY Tree Trust programs. This allows additional funding to be used for underfunded recreation operations.
Taking money from one purpose to use for another is not easy. These decisions always require trade-offs. Those that we are choosing to implement; however, are necessary to alleviate pressures on the General Fund, which allows the city to continue critical core services.
The city carefully considered how voters intended these dedicated funds to be used. No dedicated funds are being used for purposes that are unrelated to their original purpose.
Cost Containment Measures: Efficiencies and Shared Resources
The city is also reducing costs by combining similar work, sharing staff and changing which departments are responsible for certain services.
- Having OSMP maintain Coot Lake Restroom and North Shore of the Reservoir, instead of Parks and Recreation since OSMP staff are frequently in these areas to manage the Eagle Trailhead and Lefthand Trailhead.
- Consolidating requests for a new public safety data analyst function, to support both police and fire, instead of having two separate roles.
- Developing a One Ranger approach between OSMP and Parks & Recreation by transitioning Limited Commission Rangers currently employed by parks into the OSMP Ranger Program to align training and development, as well as peer support. This will be fully implemented in 2027.
- Reassigning at least 17 existing roles in departments to a new Customer Experience division to improve the quality and ease of service that community members receive when the city opens its new city service center at the Western City Campus. The city will achieve significant savings by re-thinking existing jobs rather than adding all-new positions, some of which would have been duplicative, to support this long-envisioned single service center.
- Continuing an initiative to recycle trees that have to be removed because of their condition as timber that can be used for city projects; this is an approach the city used to design and build the Crest View and Wild Woods nature play areas.
New and Adjusted Revenue
The city will start collecting the Transportation Maintenance Fee, approved as part of the 2026 Budget, in early 2027.
In addition, the 2027 Recommended Budget includes:
- An increase in recreational marijuana additional tax, from 3.5% to 5.5%, which the city anticipates businesses will charge to consumers. This funding will offset losses Boulder has experienced as a result of changes to revenues the state was collecting previously and passing on to the city. It will also bring the city in line with other peer communities across the region.
- Utilities rate and fee adjustments to ensure continued financial sustainability of water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. Utility user rates are proposed to increase by 5% for Water, 7% for Wastewater, and 7% for Stormwater and Flood
Management; these are lower rate increases than originally anticipated based on Utilities’ reprioritization and scaling of planned capital spending levels across the six-year horizon. - An increase in fees that medical and recreational marijuana businesses pay to be licensed. This recoups the existing cost of service and brings these fees in line with other municipalities along the Front Range.
- An increase in long-term parking permits in the Downtown parking garages as well as the Downtown and University Hill parking lots – aligning them with private sector rates and market demand.
- Adjustments to Liquor licensing fees, which are set and capped by the State Liquor Code.
- An increase to the Domestic Partnership application fee, which reflects cost of services provided for registration or termination. This fee has not been updated since 2005.
To view a full list of fee changes, see the city’s Comprehensive Fee Inventory.
The recommended budget also includes two property tax relief measures:
- A one-year special district property tax reduction from 10.000 mills to 5.000 mills for property owners and homeowners within the Boulder Junction Access Parking General Improvement District to reduce burden on property owners in the district as the city continues to develop its economic development strategy.
- A one-year full reduction of the additional special district property tax assessed to homes in the Forest Glen Transit Pass District to fund Transit Demand Management opportunities and Eco Passes for residents in this neighborhood. This reduction will not impact current Eco Pass programming as these programs will be covered by existing savings.
Additions to the Budget
Even in constrained times, the city still has a responsibility to meet community needs and address emerging priorities.
Limited New Positions
Every service the community relies upon us needs to be supported by staff, and sometimes it’s necessary to add positions. The costs associated with each new position had to be offset by cuts – there was no room to simply add the cost of salaries and benefits. Most of these positions, too, are paid out of dedicated funds, as opposed to the General Fund.
The recommended budget includes the following:
- 3 police lieutenant positions, consistent with the Reimagine Policing Plan adopted by City Council in 2023 and to ensure that officers in the field have the supervision they need to respond in ways our community expects.
- 3 billing positions to support collection of the Transportation Maintenance Fee (costs for these roles will be covered by the revenue from the fee – all remaining revenue will be used to pay for unfunded and underfunded transportation maintenance projects; a few examples include increased pavement management, intersection improvements at Broadway and Canyon, CO 93 bus lanes, and replacement of the 26th Street and Four-Mile Canyon Bridge).
- 1 term-limited licensing position to support short-term rental licenses, covered by license application fees.
- 1 Assistant City Attorney III for in-house climate-focused legal assistance and Public Utilities Commission work, supported by a reduction of an existing vacant Policy Advisor position.
- 0.5 Human Resources Specialist to support human resources compliance objectives.
- 1 Geographic Information Systems Analyst for Utilities’ asset management program to maintain accurate infrastructure records, mapping and asset data used for maintenance planning, risk management, capital planning, and regulatory compliance. This position will be equally funded across the Water, Wastewater, and Storm and Flood enterprise funds.
- 2 IT Application Administrators to support technology used by Planning & Development Services and Utilities. The Utilities IT Applications Administrator will support Utilities’ billing operations – ensuring reliable billing services and reducing single-point-of-failure risks. The P&DS IT Applications Administrator will support the city’s permitting system configuration, customer self-service enhancements, and ordinance-related system upgrades; this is cost-neutral through a reallocation of dollars previously used for contract support services and temporary personnel support.
- Conversion of a Housing Project Planner from a term-limited to an ongoing position to assist with housing programs.
- Conversion of a term-limited Community Engagement Specialist position to an ongoing position to support Community Connectors programming. This fulfills a citywide strategic plan objective and is offset by a reduction to another Communications & Engagement position.
- Conversion of a fixed-term Accounting Coordinator position to a standard ongoing position to support Planning & Development Services needs.
Programming, technology or equipment enhancements
The 2027 recommended budget includes a limited number of additional programming or equipment enhancements, including:
- An increase of $300,000 to the Wildfire Resilience cross-departmental initiative to help expedite priority strategies including home and property wildfire risk reduction, new building and landscaping standards, and community emergency preparedness; this will bring the tax funding dedicated to this community priority each year to $1.8 million.
- A quantitative community survey, accompanied by a focused engagement strategy to reach communities that are numerically underrepresented in this method, to inform City Council priorities in 2028 and beyond.
- Implementation of electronic KnoxBox access/security systems so firefighters and medics can gain access to locked business and multi-family residential buildings more quickly in emergencies.
- Replacement of self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters.
- Continuation of one-time Employee Assistance Program support for police officers and wellness/health screening funding for firefighters.
- One-year funding for local vouchers and the Flexible Resolution Program that help unhoused individuals successfully exit homelessness and one-year funding to continue Day Services Center operations.
- Ongoing funding for increased eviction prevention through rental assistance.
- Additional Arts & Culture investments, including one-time funding for a partnership with the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) Colorado to analyze how to address the displacement of artists and cultural nonprofits from Boulder’s creative ecosystem, and one-time funding for Arts Blueprint programming.
- A vehicle to support mobile Community Court.
- Snow and Ice Program technology investments that will improve the quality and consistency of operational data available to staff as they respond to winter weather conditions. These enhancements include expanded Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) cameras, sensors, and forecasting capabilities along with ongoing support for a routing and navigation platform implemented in 2026.
- One-time funding for a Development Impact Fee Study for a comprehensive update to the city’s development impact fees to ensure fees accurately reflect current growth-related infrastructure and service demands. Revenues from development impact fees fund growth-related infrastructure projects.
- Investments utilizing one-time funding received from the Denver Broncos Franchise sale for Child Friendly Cities Initiatives, including for Parks and Recreation's Youth Service Initiative (YSI) "Getting Fit" and "Peer Mentor" programs and the EXPAND Camp Amico program. Activities and outcomes for these programs align with the city's Youth Action Plan 'Safety and Belonging' priority area. This will also support Youth Opportunity Program activities for youth civic engagement and leadership development.
Capital Infrastructure Projects
The city maintains a capital infrastructure program budget that is separate from its operations budget. This funds infrastructure maintenance, improvements, replacements or additions based on community needs and priorities. Because these projects can take time to plan and complete, the city’s Capital Improvement Program covers six years. The first year of the program is approved as the city’s capital budget.
Highlights of capital projects the city plans to work on in 2027 include:
- East Boulder Community Center – construction on the Age Well east side will begin in 2027; design for the recreation center side will be underway through 2027
- Renovations 1500 Pearl Parking Garage
- New customer service request and tracking (CRM) software
- Flagstaff Road corridor safety and wildfire improvements on open space
- Renovation of the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage and parking area
- Boulder Creek Park & 13th Street enhancements
- Start of construction for new courts at the East Boulder Community Park & Tom Watson Park
- Refurbishment of North Boulder Park
- 30th Street (Baseline to Aurora) multimodal improvements
- Replacement of the Violet Avenue Bridge over 4-Mile Canyon Creek
- Completion of the Chautauqua undergrounding project
- Upgrades to the city’s two treated water pump stations
- South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation project
- Fire Station #2 construction
