The Boulder City Council unanimously approved the city’s $589.5 million budget for 2025 on Thursday, Oct. 17. With rising operational costs and major revenue sources leveling off, City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde proposed a leaner budget compared to previous years, which councilmembers largely supported.
The 2025 budget, a slight increase from last year, includes new investments in affordable housing, rental assistance, the city’s encampment removal program, arts and culture, wildfire mitigation, University Hill streetscape renovations, and the Alpine-Balsam Western City Campus project to redevelop a former hospital site into housing and city office space.
Despite these new investments, the budget comes amid flattening sales tax revenue and the expiration of federal pandemic-era stimulus funds. In response to these financial pressures, Boulder County commissioners recently cut millions of dollars in grant funding to nonprofits that provide safety net services, even as those organizations report growing demand.
The city’s 2025 budget does not cover the gap left by the county’s funding cuts. While service providers report increasing needs, the city’s funding for safety net programs through the Housing and Human Services Department and grants to nonprofits remains flat. Additionally, in 2026, funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act will expire, likely impacting other safety net programs, such as a peer support initiative to help newly housed individuals stay housed and a respite care program for homeless people transitioning out of the hospital.
One area of increased funding is the city’s Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance (EPRAS) program. With evictions rising in Boulder County, the city has had to limit the assistance provided to households. To support the program, officials have proposed raising the rental license fee from $75 to $78.90, generating an additional $62,000 in revenue. The EPRAS program is set to receive $1.4 million in the 2025 budget.
Once again the leadership in Boulder makes silly choices. If we indeed are having significant shortfalls in income, why are city residents being asked to increase the part-time councils compensation. Further, the city has yet to repair potholes, cut the grass on medians, and provided regular and needed maintenance on the South Boulder Recreation Center. How about we vote a resounding NO on pay increases and use the money to fix the SBRC. Living in the 14th most expensive city in the United States I am tired of paying high property taxes and 9% sales tax and getting no good level of service from the City of Boulder.