Following the Money - Part Five B: What's going out in 2025
The outs and ins of our money
In Part 5A I covered the projected revenue for our 2025 budget. Now let’s look at the spendy part. Watching the staff presentation put the whole process of balancing the budget on the table was quite interesting. Here’s how it went.
WHERE WE START, $75K EXTRA
From the staff report, “The 2025 Recommended Budget totals $121.8 million across all funds and represents a 10% decrease from the 2024 Approved Budget. The 2025 Recommended Budget is supported by $108.7 million in revenues across all funds based upon projections of the various elements of the City’s revenue base.”
Ok as you see below after staff subtracts all the spending for salaries/benefits and operating costs plus moving about $50,000 of unused department funding (reallocations) $75K is left over.
BUDGET REQUESTS $11.8 MILLION
Each department head works with their team to whittle down and then submit their budgets, and here’s what we see in numbers. $11.8M in requests when there is only $75K available. Hmmmm.
THE BUDGET TEAM DIGS IN
Are there places where more money could be found? Here’s what they presented.
EMERGENCY SERVICES - state funding exists for uncompensated Medicaid transfers by public medical transport providers (EMS is part of our fire department). It’s not a guarantee but if approved it could bring in $400,000.
FEE UPDATES - many fees have not been updated to reflect true costs. This includes EMS services, recreation fees, and development review fees for the planning, fire, and public works departments. Staff proposed researching, studying, and evaluating current fees to see if changes should be made.
These types of changes are council policy choices. Staff presents suggestions and council decides to raise fees or stay with current charges.
EMS FEES - our emergency transport fees were last updated in 2014. The three-year average for transporting patients gives us about 1600 transports per year. The cost is about $3200, we charge $900. Staff will research surrounding communities’ charges and bring a formula to the council that addresses this during the first reading of the budget. They will be looking for something that falls between those two numbers.
RECREATION FEES - Staff is reporting a change in how the recreation services are used. For instance, there is a shift from individual training to more group training. Industry philosophies about recreation and subsidies have changed while Lafayette’s has not. Expect to see a fee analysis happen in 2025. I’ll let you know the results.
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW FEES - In 2025 our software will be updated. This assists in evaluating the planning department's time spent reviewing development plans and includes fire and public works review input which could result in fee increases. (Karensplainer: we are probably not charging enough!)
A CHANGE FROM ONE FUND TO ANOTHER
Remember in 2019 the voters approved a sales tax dedicated to Mental Health and Human Services? I wrote about the 2023 allocation of $650,000 in funds here and the tax history here.
The allocations listed below currently come from the general fund. Staff is proposing changing the funding to the Mental Health and Human Services fund freeing up $50,000 to $100,000 in the general fund.
AN ADDITIONAL CHANGE FROM ONE FUND TO ANOTHER
Staff is proposing using the One Lafayette Endowment fund — administered by the Community Foundation Boulder County—with a balance over $500,000 to provide funding for third-party agencies such as Communities That Care and Coordinated Youth Spaces. This will free up about $85,000 from the 2014 mill levy funds to use on current city-provided youth services as shown in the chart below.
VENDOR FEES
Businesses collecting sales taxes in Lafayette are given a 2.5% discount for filing on time. The maximum annual discount is $1200. Many jurisdictions are eliminating this practice as it is a cost to them. Historically it’s large out-of-state vendors that benefit. Staff estimates $270,000 in revenue would be generated if this fee was eliminated. (bye bye vendor fee!)
THE RESULT OF THIS WORK?
Close to a million dollars extra instead of $75,000
WHAT THOSE FUNDS WILL PAY FOR
Police and fire dispatch services provided by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department - 6% increase in cost.
Insurance premiums, property, casualty, and health insurance - generally see a 3% annual increase, initially coming in at a 14% increase. Staff was able to work with the broker and bring that down to a 5% increase.
Janitorial services and supplies - 7% increase.
Software costs increase.
Body-worn cameras for the police department. This is a state requirement. There is only one vendor available. - 46% increase.
NEW PROGRAMS
In-house city attorney’s office. This is a big change. We have a city attorney, Mary Lynn Macsalka, but she is not an employee, we contract out our legal work to her and her firm. This change will add three full-time employees but be offset by a reduction in contract costs with an increase in efficiency.
Fire Training Officer. We are the only municipality in the county without someone in this position. This position is contingent on receipt of the Medicaid funding mentioned above. Cost a little over $200,00.
Outsourcing cemetery operations. This would utilize a third party to handle all cemetery issues including software to provide interactive mapping. $25,000.
Pollinator study. A one-time cost of $10,000 for a study with the intent to gain a pollinator district designation for the city. More to come on this soon!
ADDITIONAL SPENDING
PARK EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT FOR 2025
Autumn Ash Park
Lindenwood Park
That gets us to the end of these two updates. Yeah! The next step is public hearings at future council meetings for discussion if needed and approval. In the past residents would go to these hearings and advocate for specific needs in their neighborhoods. I don’t see that happening any longer.
I hope this journey through the beginning of the budget process wasn’t too much of a grind and that it gives you more insight into how things work at the local level.
Want to offer more support? Awesome!
Karen - do you have any more information on the playground updates for Autumn Ash and Lindenwood? Does the public get any say in what kind of equipment is installed?
Karen,
The city has hired a consultant to help develop a strategic plan for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access(IDEA). I’ve read the RFP, and it is not, in my professional opinion (I have spent years writing and responding to RFPs - I know whereof I speak) adequate to get a meaningful product. It basically is telling the consultant to tell the city what IDEA is and what the city wants to accomplish. It leaves the definitions of those terms to the consultant. I’m confident that the report is 80% written, and they still haven’t started. I’ve been a consultant. I know how this works.
Two things that are crucial and are either missing or too vague to be useful. 1. What the city wants to accomplish and 2. The definitions to which the city wants the plan to conform. Those things are important.
In the mean time, our sidewalks are in terrible shape and many of our streets are verging on unsafe due to deterioration of the pavement.
Them’s my thoughts.