City finance staff presented the citywide long‑term financial strategy and the Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) team previewed the department’s draft Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for fiscal 2026 at the April 9 meeting.

Finance framing and ballot timing

Charlotte Heskey, budget officer for the City of Boulder finance department, told the board the city is preparing a multiyear strategy to reduce reliance on sales and use tax, expand revenue diversity and address a $380 million estimate of unfunded and underfunded needs across city programs. The initiative is building on prior recommendations from blue‑ribbon reports and will include public engagement branded as ‘‘Fund Our Future’’ (community conversations July–October 2025 and polling in 2026).

Heskey described two ballot measure concepts under active discussion for 2025: extending the existing 0.3% Community Culture Resilience and Safety (CCRS) sales and use tax beyond 2036 (or consider making it permanent) and creating an expanded ‘‘public realm tax’’ that would raise the parks property‑tax increment from 0.9 mills to about 2.252 mills and broaden allowable uses to include parks, open space, civic buildings and the public right‑of‑way. City staff estimated the CCRS extension would yield roughly $15 million annually; the proposed public realm increment is estimated at about $7 million annually. Heskey said final decisions and polling analysis will be presented to council through late 2025 and into 2026.

Why this matters: the long‑term plan aims to increase fiscal stability, prioritize core services and provide more predictable funding for capital maintenance in the face of slowing sales tax growth and federal/state uncertainty.

OSMP CIP preview

OSMP staff presented a high‑level view of the 2026 draft CIP and 10‑year capital trend analysis. Cole Moffitt and Sam McQueen said the department expects a fiscally constrained environment in 2026 and emphasized priorities that align with the OSMP master plan and board strategic priorities: wildfire and climate resilience, enhanced presence on OSMP lands, and integrated work planning. The draft CIP reduces spending in later out‑years to balance delivery capacity and fiscal constraints.

Staff called out the Mount Sanitas trail and mesa improvements as a grant‑funded project on the 2026 list; OSMP’s memo shows about $3.5 million of the Mount Sanitas work will be reimbursed from awarded grant funds with the balance carried in the OSMP CIP across 2025–27. The department also noted a proposed ‘‘Wildfire Resilient Landscapes: Fuels Mitigation’’ investment and included trailhead redesigns that can support increased ranger presence and visitor management.

Next steps and budget timing

Finance will present the city forecast and targets to council in May; OSMP will provide a written budget update to the board in May and a fuller staff presentation and numbers in June. City leaders said the Fund Our Future public engagement effort will feed into any multiyear ballot decisions in 2025 and 2026.

Ending

Trustees asked staff to continue reporting OSMP budget trade‑offs, to highlight Flagstaff‑related capital and operating requests as the Flagstaff operations work proceeds, and to provide additional breakdowns of how proposed revenues link to sustainability, equity and resilience outcomes.