City of Boulder officials are working out how to bill residents and businesses for a new transportation maintenance fee that city council approved last fall, with payments potentially beginning as early as mid-2026.
The rollout follows one of the more contentious votes taken by Boulder City Council last year. The council voted 6-3 on Oct. 23 to adopt the fee. Mayor Aaron Brockett and Councilmembers Matt Benjamin, Lauren Folkerts, Tina Marquis, Ryan Schuchard and Nicole Speer voted in favor. Councilmembers Taishya Adams, Mark Wallach and Tara Winer opposed it.
The concept of the fee dates back to a 2008 report to the Boulder City Council that provided options for stabilizing the city’s revenue sources. The relatively small per-property fee is expected to generate about $6.4 million annually in future years and would be used specifically for transportation maintenance, including streets, sidewalks, multi-use paths and bridges. Still, critics argued the fee, which was first publicly discussed last fall, moved forward too quickly and caught parts of the business community off guard.
City officials have said the amount each property owner will pay is meant to reflect a property type’s estimated wear and tear on roads and other transportation infrastructure, not how much an individual household or business actually travels. The estimates are based on a review of local transportation survey data, not real-time monitoring of travel behavior at specific properties.
City spokesperson Aisha Ozaslan told Boulder Reporting Lab that studies were conducted using local and national data to measure how many in-person trips a property generates, including walking, cycling, scootering, driving and using the bus.
The fee varies by property type. For example, a detached single-family home would pay $54 a year, while a multi-unit dwelling would pay $42 per unit per year.
Non-residential properties would pay a fee per 1,000 square feet, with proposed annual rates of $160 for commercial properties, $71 for office space and $32 for industrial uses. Certain institutions will be exempt from the fee, including CU Boulder and Boulder Valley School District, but will be invited to contribute voluntarily.
Whether the payments will be added onto the existing utility bills or processed through a new portal is still being discussed with the City Manager’s Office, according to Chris Hagelin, principal project manager for transportation mobility. Funds will be designated for maintaining pavement, repairing bridges or maintaining sidewalks and multi-use paths, among other purposes.
Other planned uses include fully funding a pavement management program to maintain streets every seven to eight years, instead of 10, as well as resurfacing an additional seven miles annually and improving accessibility through curb repairs and additional sidewalk ramps, according to city officials.
The Boulder City Council approved the fee as part of the city’s 2026 budget. It is estimated to generate about $2.3 million in 2026 and $6.4 million annually in future years.
The city’s transportation projects budget is funded primarily through sales and use tax revenue, like most of the city’s budget. This main source of city revenue has plateaued. Transportation Advisory Board Vice Chair Darcy Kitching said that because sales tax revenue has not kept pace with inflation and rising labor costs, “We do need something that is going to be able to cover that gap.”
City staff are planning additional outreach to residents and businesses at the council’s request, following concerns raised by the Boulder Chamber about public engagement and costs.
“I’m grateful some of the councilmembers heard our concerns,” Jonathan Singer, a policy adviser for the Boulder Chamber, told Boulder Reporting Lab. He said the chamber supports maintaining city streets but remains concerned about what he called the city’s limited recent engagement with businesses and the added costs.
Ideas under consideration include creating a webpage or dashboard showing returns on investment and holding one-on-one meetings with businesses. Updates will be available through the city’s Transportation and Mobility newsletter and the fee’s dedicated webpage.