The Boulder County commissioners on Dec. 11 unanimously approved a $708 million budget for 2025, marking an 8% increase over this year’s budget. The spending plan prioritizes employee compensation and makes additional investments in wildfire mitigation, affordable housing and proposed bikeway projects.
The budget discussions have centered on rising operational costs, flattening county revenues and reduced state and federal funding, forcing commissioners to navigate tradeoffs. The county also faces a structural deficit, with ongoing expenses projected to outpace revenues.
County commissioners acknowledged they could not approve all the requests submitted by department officials.
“I’m glad that we’ve been able to — through months and months — come to what feels like a fiscally responsible budget for 2025,” Commissioner Marta Loachamin said at the Dec. 11 meeting. She added, “understanding that we have a structural deficit and also understanding that we have a lot of pulls on this budget.”
Commissioner Claire Levy said that while the $708 million might seem “eye-popping,” the commissioners approved a constrained budget that includes some one-time expenditures and contributions to the county’s reserves. In 2022, the budget was more than 25% smaller.
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said it’s hard for some people to understand all the services the county provides. “I’m very proud of the responsibility and fiscal stewardship to maintaining the community’s assets through this budget and keeping it a great place to live.”
Boulder County employs more than 2,100 full-time equivalent employees who provide a range of services, from managing the county jail to administering federal and state safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Personnel costs remain one of the largest components of the 2025 budget, which includes cost-of-living adjustments and a living wage of at least $50,000 annually for full-time employees. One of the goals of the pay raises is to help county employees live in the county in which they work, according to Commissioner Loachamin.
Recent voter-approved sales taxes are also driving new spending. These taxes pay for affordable housing, wildfire mitigation and emergency services. Commissioners made additional investments in the 400-unit Willoughby Corner housing development in Lafayette, a wildfire hardening rebate program and new radios for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
The budget also helps fund the design of two proposed bikeways: the 11-mile North Foothills Bikeway along U.S. 36, connecting North Boulder to Lyons, and the 8.5-mile Boulder to Erie Regional Trail (BERT). Additionally, commissioners allocated money to open the new alternative sentencing facility for people in work release or community corrections programs.
Not all department requests made the final cut. Sheriff Curtis Johnson’s $5.4 million request to staff a new 60-bed jail module was rescinded, except for funding a nurse supervisor and eight detention specialists. The sheriff’s request comes as overcrowding has become so severe that some people have been forced to sleep on the gym floor, while others are confined to their cells for over 22 hours a day.
For City of Boulder residents, county grant funding cuts to safety net services have drawn particular concern. Reductions include funding for organizations like All Roads, which runs the city’s largest shelter, and the Emergency Family Assistance Association, which provides financial assistance to renters facing eviction. County officials have cited declining state and federal contributions as reasons behind these cuts.
The budget includes additional county funding for Colorado’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which helps low-income parents cover daycare costs, to help backfill reductions in state funding for the program. However, the increase is insufficient to lift the current freeze on new applications, leaving many families, including teen parents, struggling to stay in school or keep their jobs.
The 2025 budget includes an estimated year-end General Fund reserve balance of about $50 million.
The budget takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
