🧩 Boulder has a $6.3M problem. Can you solve it?

Good Monday morning, Boulder.

Leading today: Something a little different. BRL columnist and CU professor Brian Keegan built an interactive tool that lets you try balancing Boulder’s budget yourself.

With flat sales tax revenue, declining property tax revenue and rising costs, the city’s budget woes have become a major community concern and election issue. The story explains how Boulder’s budget works, including why nearly two-thirds of the city’s money is restricted or committed and can’t simply be moved around.

Then it’s your turn: Decide where to cut spending, which taxes or fees to raise — or lower — and see if you can close the $6.3 million General Fund gap.

Submit your budget (anonymously) and you’ll see how other readers balanced theirs. We’ll also analyze the responses to see which trade-offs Boulder residents are willing to make. Maybe city leaders will take note.

Also today: Silvia Pettem looks back at an eccentric 1890s scheme to transform a Fourmile Canyon mining community into a model city, and what remains of it today.

And finally: Your ballots are on their way, and we’re publishing the next two questions in our reader-generated questionnaire. Today’s questions focus on what mayoral and council candidates say they’ll do to help struggling downtown businesses and what they would do to address Boulder’s budget issues and aging buildings. Later this week, you’ll get our entirely (and always) free voter guide, with everything you need to know to vote in one place.

Plus more, Below the Fold:

Forecast: October heat continues, pushing toward 90.
CU South: Residents ask state Supreme Court to hear flood project case.
Bears: Boulder County reports surge amid drought.
Cash assistance: Families can apply for up to $600 monthly.
Grief support: Free four-week group opens to residents.

Thanks, as always, for reading,

– The BRL team

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Aquiles has spent 30 years building, serving and organizing in Boulder. He helped save Iris Fields, create housing, support local farmers, build companies and create jobs. He’s running for mayor because Boulder needs more than promises. It needs leadership that gets things done.

Think you can balance Boulder’s budget? Try closing the city’s $6.3 million gap.

Use our interactive budget tool to decide where you would cut spending, raise or lower taxes and fees, and see whether you can make the numbers work. Continue reading…

The strange story of the man who tried to build a utopian ‘Wall Street’ in the mountains above Boulder

In 1897, Charles W. Caryl set out to transform a small Fourmile Canyon mining community into a model city. His grand plans collapsed, but remnants of his Wallstreet venture remain today. Continue reading…

How should Boulder address budget cuts and aging buildings? City council candidates weigh in.

BRL asked mayoral and city council candidates what Boulder should do to address a $400 million backlog in facility maintenance and repeated budget cuts. Candidates proposed an independent auditor, new taxes and more transparency. Continue reading…

How should Boulder help its struggling downtown? City council candidates weigh in.

BRL asked mayoral and city council candidates what they would do to help struggling businesses and reduce downtown vacancies. Ideas included faster permitting, free parking, startup grants and new uses for empty spaces. Continue reading…

A burst of summer in October

October will feel more like August this week. Monday will be sunny and unusually warm, with a high near 89. The overnight low will be around 60.

Tuesday stays mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 86. Any isolated showers should remain in the mountains. Wednesday brings more sunshine and a high near 83, with warm, dry weather sticking around through Saturday. Fingers crossed this year’s first frost does not arrive heinously late again.

Boulder residents ask Colorado Supreme Court to take up CU South flood project case

Residents are asking the Colorado Supreme Court to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Boulder’s use of stormwater utility fees to pay for the South Boulder Creek flood mitigation project at CU South.

The petition for certiorari, filed on Sept. 29, is the latest in a legal fight over the project that has been in the works for more than a decade. The project includes building a concrete spillway along U.S. 36 and creating a detention pond to reduce the risk of flooding for about 2,300 residents who live in the 100-year South Boulder Creek floodplain. Properties in that floodplain have a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. Read more on BRL.

Bear reports surge in Boulder County amid drought and food shortages

Boulder County has seen a sharp increase in bear activity this year. Colorado Parks and Wildlife recorded 299 bear reports in the county from Jan. 1 through Sept. 28, up from 185 during the same period in 2025 and 226 in 2024, according to CPW spokesperson Kara Van Hoose.

The increase mirrors a statewide trend. Drought and scarce natural food have pushed bears to travel farther and take more risks in search of food. CPW received more than 6,100 bear reports statewide through Aug. 13, nearly double the roughly 3,100 reported during the same period last year.

Wildlife officials are urging residents to secure trash and other potential food sources, particularly during August through October, when encounters in communities are more common.

A new Colorado law also raises the stakes: People who knowingly leave food or edible waste where it could reasonably attract a bear can receive a warning or citation on the first offense, with subsequent violations carrying fines of $2,000 to $5,000.

Boulder County families can apply for up to $600 a month in cash assistance

Applications reopen today for Boulder County’s Nurturing Futures program, which provides monthly cash payments to qualifying families with young children.

Recipients will receive $300 a month through December, increasing to $600 a month from January through December 2027. Families can use the money however they choose.

New applicants must live in Boulder County, have a gross household income at or below 30% of the area median income and have a child under age 4 throughout the application window. Applications are open Oct. 5 through Nov. 2.

Free grief support group opens to Boulder County residents

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office is offering a free, four-week grief support group for county residents beginning Oct. 14.

The “Facing the Mourning” program is designed to help participants process grief through sharing stories, writing letters, creating memorials and setting personal goals while connecting with others.

The group will meet in person in Longmont on four Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. through Nov. 4. Space is limited to eight participants. To register, bccogriefsupport@bouldercounty.gov.

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