How Boulder is run
Who runs Boulder, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Boulder's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 10, 2026.
Who runs Boulder
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
- May choose city health, vision, dental and life insurance on the same terms as full-time city employees
Boulder city staff
1,548 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 281, Fire-Rescue 140. FY2026. Citywide staffing in the 2026 approved budget, after the city cut 19.00 FTE across eight departments. City of Boulder · Dec 27, 2025
The budget lists staffing (FTE) by department, but we found no city-published pay list for all employees. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Boulder in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $76.8M (2024-12-31). The city's own target: The council keeps a minimum target for unassigned general fund balance of 20% of expenditures and transfers out, excluding grant-funded spending. The city meets this target. City of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026.
Comes from
- Sales and use tax$80.4M · 40%
- Property tax$50.5M · 25%
- Transfers in and cost allocation$23.6M · 12%
- Accommodation and admission taxes$12.9M · 6%
- Licenses, permits and fines$8.3M · 4%
- Parking revenues$3.7M · 2%
- Investment earnings$2.6M · 1%
- Other (occupation taxes, grants, intergovernmental and more)$16.7M · 8%
Goes to (FY2026)
- Police$50.2M · 26%
- General government$38.4M · 20%
- Fire-Rescue$29.1M · 15%
- Housing and human services$13M · 7%
- Innovation and technology$10.4M · 5%
- City manager's office$9.7M · 5%
- Facilities and fleet$6.9M · 4%
- Other departments (finance, parks, city attorney, human resources and more)$36.8M · 19%
Who provides your services
Not everything in Boulder is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityCity of Boulder Police DepartmentCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- Fire and emergency medical responseThe cityBoulder Fire-RescueCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- WaterThe cityCity of Boulder (water utility)City of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- WastewaterThe cityCity of Boulder (wastewater utility)City of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- StreetsThe cityCity of BoulderCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- Open space and mountain parksThe cityCity of BoulderCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- Parks and recreationThe cityCity of BoulderCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- Housing and human servicesThe cityCity of BoulderCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
- ParkingThe cityCity of BoulderCity of Boulder · Jul 22, 2025
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | ErieCO | ParkerCO | Castle RockCO | BoulderCO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 40,904 | 65,985 | 83,815 | 105,689 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $230,000 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | $358,426 |
| Council member pay | $3,600 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $1,847 | $1,257 | $1,219 | $1,840 |
| Debt per resident | $1,354 | $486 | $2,063 | $2,987 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $0 | $0 | $5 | $834 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 7.8 | 7.4 | 8.0 | 14.6 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Erie pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Boulder publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- No: Audited financial report filed on timeThe city's financial report page lists the 2024 report (year ended Dec. 31, 2024) as the latest; we found no 2025 report as of Oct. 10, 2026. City of Boulder
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public document City of Boulder · Sep 5, 2024
- No: Employee pay publishedWe found no city-published pay list by employee or position; the budget lists staffing (FTE) by department only. City of Boulder · Dec 27, 2025
Questions to ask your council
- Unassigned general fund balance was $76.8 million on December 31, 2024, above the 20% target. How much of it does the city plan to use as revenue flattens?
- The city's 2025 audited financial report was not posted as of October 10, 2026. When will it be released?
The fiscal year is the calendar year, starting Jan. 1. The charter requires the budget to be adopted by Dec. 1. The city manager's recommended budget is released in September, and council holds public hearings and adopts the budget and appropriation ordinances in October. The 2026 appropriation ordinance was adopted Oct. 23, 2025. See who is running for council
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Every number here was checked by hand against the linked document. Cities publish on different schedules, so years differ between sections; each figure says which year it describes. Spotted something wrong or out of date?
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