Boulder County commissioners adopt $593.5 million budget
Dec. 9—Boulder County commissioners this week adopted a $593.5 million county budget for 2023, including one-time money to build Boulder County Jail's Alternative Sentencing Facility, upgrade Recycling Center equipment and replace county vehicles.
Construction on the jail's Alternative Sentencing Facility, paid for through a tax approved by voters in 2018, is slated to start in the summer. The county's budget includes $12.4 million for construction and $1.4 million for software to manage the facility and its clients. The new facility will house programs for those serving alternative sentences, such as jail-work release sentences in which inmates work during the day and are housed in the jail at night.
Other one-time budget expenses include $2.5 million to replace or upgrade equipment at the Recycling Center, $1.2 million for county fleet vehicle replacements and $16.7 million for road and bridge maintenance.
"Boulder County's 2023 budget allocates the resources needed to maintain the county's current level of operations, safeguard its reserves, and provide for investment in infrastructure and transportation," Commissioner Claire Levy wrote in a news release.
The budget grew to $593.5 million from the previous year's $549.9 million total primarily because of revenue from the three sales taxes approved by voters in November and the allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to the news release.
Two new taxes, for wildfire mitigation and emergency services, are expected to generate an additional $19 million in revenue. The third tax, for transportation, extends an existing tax and is expected to raise $20.4 million for transportation projects.
"This has been a tough year for Marshall Fire survivors and Boulder County residents as we have additionally faced issues of labor shortages, COVID-19, rising inflation and daily costs incrementing," Commissioner Marta Loachamin wrote in the news release. "The American Rescue Plan Act funding ... will continue to provide relief for those most impacted by COVID-19."
In response to record inflation and volatility in the local job market, the budget includes a flat rate pay increases of $200 a month for all employees and a 5% cost-of-living increase, according to the news release. There's also a 2% discretionary raise pool for each office and department.
On the hiring side, the budget includes 30 additional full-time staff positions. Of those, seven new Sheriff's Office positions are required to address new statutory mandates, while three new Public Works positions will staff the new Southeast Lafayette HUB facility. Another nine new positions, funded by voter-approved taxes, will support the Sustainability, Parks and Open Space, and Offender Management programs.
