December 11, 2024
Understanding Boulder County’s Budget
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The $708 million budget will fund infrastructure, services, and programs for county residents
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- The Boulder County Commissioners have decided how public money will be spent in 2025
- Over the last eight months, the commissioners spoke to staff, other elected officials, and county residents to figure how to spend the money
- To receive this information in another language, please contact Gloria Handyside 303-441-1622 ghandyside@bouldercounty.gov
Boulder County, Colo. -- Developing Boulder County’s annual budget is a process that starts in May each year and involves hundreds of hours of work from county staff, elected officials, and the community. The result is a balanced budget adopted by the Boulder County Commissioners in December ahead of the new financial year.
The guiding principles of the 2025 budget process were the commissioners’ current strategic priorities, which include:
- economic security and social stability
- climate action and environmental stewardship
- good governance
Underpinning all of these priorities is the belief that good governance is impossible without racial equity.
The commissioners adopted the 2025 budget today (Dec. 11) and the Office of Financial Management will now create the ‘2025 Budget Book’, which will be available on the county’s budget website in March.
What’s in the 2025 budget?
The county’s budget process includes two distinct parts: existing funding for important county programs and services which have been delivered in previous years (the ‘base budget’) and requests for new funding (which can be viewed in the ‘decision package’).
The base budget for 2025 is $566 million. For 2025, the commissioners received $179 million in new funding requests – and approved $142 million.
Where does the money come from?
- property taxes (depending on the districts you live in, about 25% of your collected property tax funds county programs and services)
- voter-approved sales and use taxes for specific purposes, like Sustainability, Open Space, and Wildfire Mitigation
- fees and grants from the state and federal government, such as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), or U.S. Department of Transportation grants
- other sources, like county employee contributions to medical and dental plans, motor vehicle fees, rents and royalties from county properties, and the sale of recycled material processed at the Boulder County Recycling Center
Outside of the county budget, the county also distributes federal funds to residents, including $41 million in SNAP food benefits in the last year.
What’s in the base budget?
The county’s budget covers all of the departments and offices that report to the commissioners and all of the other elected offices: Sheriff’s Office, Clerk & Recorder’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Treasurer’s Office, the Assessor’s Office, Coroner’s Office, and Surveyor’s Office. The county’s budget also includes some funding support for other local agencies, including Boulder County Public Health and the Boulder County Housing Authority.
Here are a few examples of what the county will continue to deliver for the people of Boulder County:
Solutions for unhoused residents and those at risk of homelessness, including: crisis response, housing and supports, case management and support services, eviction and rental assistance, and mediation. Sheltering at a homeless shelter is considered a crisis response and is only one component of homeless solutions. The county is contributing $1,553,554 in direct funding for All Roads (formerly Boulder Shelter) and $387,500 for Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement (HOPE) in Longmont for their base operations. The difference in the funding levels to these partners is based on the number of beds at their facilities. In 2023 (2024 data still being collected at the time of publication) through the county programs, 29% of homeless individuals successfully exited into housing.
Boulder County’s EnergySmart program, funded by the voter-approved Sustainability Tax, is making clean energy upgrades more affordable, offering up to $4,000 in rebates for low- and middle-income households to adopt energy-efficient technologies like heat pumps and induction stoves. These efforts are part of a larger regional push to electrify homes, cut emissions by 70%, and train thousands of workers for clean energy jobs.
Wildfire mitigation is well underway in Boulder County and we will build on our progress by ensuring all community members know how they can do their part. In 2024, our community visited the county's Wildfire Partners website over 70,000 times (December data not included at time of publication) to access important information on what to do and to receive grants and rebates. The Wildfire Mitigation Tax will allow for forestry and grassland mitigation to continue in 2025 with additional ditch mitigation, chipping, and work with vulnerable community members.
Ongoing work to advocate for Boulder County residents at a state and federal level will protect against the potential harm of expanded oil and gas development in Colorado. The county will continue to support tighter restrictions and increased local control to protect air quality.
The commissioners and staff continue to work on bringing the local voice to the federal stage on important topics including immigration reform, the Farm Bill (which impacts our local farmers and is the source of SNAP funding), and funding for local projects including in the area of forestry, transportation, and water quality.
Boulder County Public Health's WIC Farmers' Market Program and Fruit and Veg Longmont Program, funded in part by the voter-approved Sustainability Tax, are making healthy food accessible for low-income residents. Through the WIC Farmers' Market Program, pregnant and breastfeeding women and families with children under 5 receive $80 in monthly coupons to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from Boulder County farmers. Through the Fruit and Veg Longmont Program, families unable to qualify for federal food benefits like SNAP or WIC, receive Fruit & Veg coupons to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at small, locally owned stores, farm stands, and farmers markets in Longmont.
The county will continue to provide funds through the Colorado Childcare Assistance Program for low-income families enrolled in the program despite a deficit in federal funding. The county will absorb a portion of the increased costs from changes in federal rules, which did not come with additional funding. Unfortunately, the program will remain closed to new enrollment.
The base budget includes the operating costs for the elected offices mentioned above, as well as the Office of Sustainability, Climate Action & Resilience, Office of the County Attorney, Office of the County Administrator, the departments of Community Services, Housing, Human Services, Parks & Open Space, Community Planning & Permitting, Public Works, Office of Racial Equity, Human Resources, and Information Technology.
These departments provide Bounty County residents with services such as early childhood well-being and education, employment and training services, building safety, open space acquisition and management, wildfire mitigation, and transportation planning. Through these departments, the county delivers services and provides additional supports for federal programs administered though the state, including food assistance (SNAP and WIC), health coverage (Medicaid, CHP+, Affordable Care Act Marketplace), affordable housing development and housing vouchers, child care assistance (the Child Care Assistance Program), financial assistance (TANF), and early childhood support through Head Start.
What’s new in 2025?
In partnership with the City of Boulder and the Town of Erie, the county will move forward with the BERT Plan to develop location and design options for an 8.5 mile east-west multi-use trail connection between Erie and Boulder. The county will also advance the design and engineering for the US36 North Foothills Bikeway connecting Lyons and Boulder. Using local transportation funds, the county will continue to work with state and federal partners to improve CO119 Diagonal Highway between Longmont and Boulder.
The new Climate Equity Fund is putting the power of climate action in the hands of those most impacted by climate change. Designed with a first-of-its-kind in Boulder County, community-driven approach, this fund will provide resources to grassroots leaders and organizations creating tailored solutions that advance racial equity and climate resilience.
Prairie Run Open Space, located along Boulder Creek from Highway 287 to Erie, is set to open to the public in late 2025 as the county’s newest open space park. Restoration projects will enhance wildlife habitat and make the stream flood-resilient as the climate changes. The park will include picnic areas, trails, and fishing access.
The Sheriff’s Office will utilize funds from the Wildfire Mitigation Tax to increase Fire Management personnel and to purchase equipment that will be used to help with fire mitigation work. Eight seasonal positions will become full-time positions, allowing for 3,700 staff hours to be dedicated to wildfire mitigation efforts in 2025. This means more preventative work including controlled burns.
Through the voter-approved Affordable and Attainable Housing Tax, $9.7 million will be put towards the development of affordable housing across Boulder County.
New housing supportive services include additional housing exit opportunities for previously homeless families and youth exiting Continuum of Care (CoC) Rapid Re-housing (RRH) and strengthening partnerships with behavioral and mental health providers to provide stronger wrap around supports.
The voter-approved Alternative Sentencing Facility will open in 2025 as The Pelle Center with the goal of keeping low risk offenders out of expensive jail beds and enable better outcomes for people who are eligible for community-based sentences. The county will fund the startup operational costs this coming year and once it’s open and occupied, future funding will come from grants, programmatic revenue, including state funding for community corrections services, and the county’s annual general fund budget. The Boulder County jail expansion will be completed in order to operate the jail safely both for offenders and staff.
Is that everything?
That is definitely not everything. This is just a snapshot of the some of the services, projects, and programs that the county continues to deliver, and will deliver, in 2025.
If you’re interested in staying up to date on county news, the work of specific programs or departments, or how to get involved in next year’s budget process, sign up for county emails and follow the county’s social media accounts.
Please also check out the county’s Community Connections magazine when it arrives in your mailbox this summer. You can view accessible versions in English and Spanish on the county’s website.
Where can you find out more about the budget?
The Office of Financial Management publishes the county’s budget in detail – the 2024 budget book provides lots of information about county spending and revenue. The 2025 budget book will be available on the county’s budget website in March. Links to the public meetings and public hearing that took place this year are available are currently available on the budget website. A recording of the Nov. 14 public meeting where the board considered new budget requests is included on that website.
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