The Boulder Municipal Court has Jurisdiction Over Violations of City Ordinances

Boulder Municipal Court handles traffic, photo enforcement, parking, animal and misdemeanor criminal offenses that have occurred within the Boulder city limits.

General Court Information

This information pertains only to the City of Boulder Municipal Court. All court proceedings are governed by city ordinances, court rules and state statutes. Court employees are not allowed to give legal advice but will be happy to answer any procedural questions.

The Boulder Municipal Court has jurisdiction over violations of city ordinances. The court handles traffic, photo enforcement, parking, animal and misdemeanor criminal offenses that have occurred within the Boulder city limits.

Some violations require an appearance in court, while others may be resolved by paying a fine instead of appearing. Many traffic violations are payable prior to court, but most criminal violations require an appearance in court before a judge.

A criminal conviction, even for a misdemeanor, can have lifelong consequences beyond the sentence imposed by the court. Review The Consequences of Conviction posted under Related Links or talk to an attorney.

Identifying a City of Boulder Municipal Court Ticket

City of Boulder Municipal Court tickets will have a yellow back and say 'Municipal' on the right side.

Municipal Court general ticket. Yellow-ish text with a yellow back.

Boulder County tickets will have blue text and say 'State' on the right side.

Boulder County ticket. Blue text.

For these tickets, contact the Boulder County Court at 303-441-3750 or visit their website.

Paying a Ticket

Fines may be paid from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Municipal Court Violations Bureau or online. The Municipal Court Office is closed the third Friday of each month from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for staff meetings. Cash, checks, money orders, Visa or MasterCard are accepted.

Criminal violations cannot be paid before an appearance in court.

To pay a Boulder Municipal Court summons online that is marked with a "Pay and Close Amount" at the top of the summons, please go to www.citepayusa.com or visit the appropriate site below to learn more.

Virtual Court Hearings

Request a virtual court hearing via Zoom to resolve traffic violations: sign up through this form.

General, Animal and Evidentiary hearings require a separate request to the court for virtual hearings. Please email your request to bouldermunicipalcourt@bouldercolorado.gov

Visiting Court with limited English proficiency

Boulder Municipal Court has many bilingual, native Spanish speakers on staff. Court forms are all translated to Spanish. Please request a Spanish form from the front desk staff, if needed.

The city will provide professional interpretation in any language for a court hearing if one is requested. This service is free to you.

Defendants may bring a family member or friend to court to provide language support.

Court Settings and Procedures

Since our procedures may vary from those for county courts and municipal courts in other jurisdictions, we are providing them for your information and guidance.

Attorneys are encouraged to file an Entry of Appearance at the earliest possible opportunity. You may submit your entry of appearance in person, or email it to settings@bouldercolorado.gov.

For many cases, the filing of an Entry of Appearance will allow an attorney to bypass the arraignment date scheduled on the Summons and set the case for a Disposition/Trial Setting. This is our court’s version of a pretrial conference. It is our preference that, following the pretrial conference with the prosecutor, the case will immediately proceed to disposition before a judge, or, alternatively, the entry of a Not Guilty plea and a trial setting. Frequently, this process is facilitated by engaging in plea negotiations with a prosecutor prior to the actual Disposition/Trial Setting date, so that if a disposition is reached, it can be entered into on that date. The prosecution office encourages defense attorneys to call 303-441-3025 to schedule a time to discuss the case prior to the Disposition/Trial Setting date. This practice makes it possible for many cases to be resolved with just one appearance date. It is advisable for a defendant to accompany the attorney on that date so that a disposition, if reached, can be put on the record immediately. Continuances of Disposition/Trial Settings are granted only on a limited basis.

The court will not allow the arraignment process to be bypassed for cases that include any general offense case in which Restorative Justice through the University of Colorado-Boulder (CURJ) is part of the disposition. CURJ staff attend court on general arraignment days, meet with CU students as a group to explain the program and the process, and schedule intake meetings with students at that time. This process is not available on Disposition/Trial Setting dates. Represented defendants who are offered CURJ as part of their dispositions will be processed before the unrepresented defendants in order to minimize the amount of time the attorney must spend at court.

The court will not allow the arraignment process to be bypassed for cases in which the charge is Possession or Consumption of Alcohol or Marijuana by a Minor (MIP), the court will not allow the arraignment process to be bypassed by the entry of an attorney. We have specialized processes in place for these cases, including conducting a substance use screen, so that we can assign defendants to evidence-based treatment that is appropriate to their circumstances. This process is not available on Disposition/Trial Setting dates. Further, we group defendants by the plea bargain offer that is being made to them, which means there may be up to three distinct groups. Within each group, once the judge has advised the group regarding the applicable plea offer, represented defendants will be processed before the unrepresented defendants so as to minimize the amount of time the attorney must spend at court.

We have limited capacity to work with out-of-state defendants to monitor active sentence conditions such as treatment, classes, or community service. Two common options are: (1) the defendant appears for court on the date of the disposition so that they can interact with probation staff and receive guidance as to how to complete their conditions from their home state; or (2) the conditions (such as treatment and community service) are completed prior to disposition and the attorney pays any monetary amounts due on behalf of the defendant on the disposition date.

Not Guilty pleas will not be entered based on a pleading. We require a pretrial conference before accepting a Not Guilty plea entered on the record. This ensures that cases get tried within the 91-day speedy trial limit, and saves our trial dates for cases that cannot be resolved without a trial.

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