Broomfield officials flag 2026 draft budget as "fragile" after $6 million property-tax hit and sales-tax softness

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — City and county finance staff told the Broomfield City Council during a study session that the draft 2026 budget is facing substantial revenue headwinds, including an estimated $6 million drop in property-tax revenue tied to new assessment rates and recent reassessments, and weaker sales- and use-tax receipts that together make next year’s budget “fragile.”

The council received the forecast Wednesday from Jeff Romine, the city’s economist; Graham Clark, director of finance; and Nathan Mosley, budget manager, who outlined a revenue-first approach to the draft budget and described near-term steps departments will take while staff finalizes proposals for council review in August and a preliminary budget in early September.

Why it matters: General fund services that rely on property, sales and use taxes — including police, library and human services — account for more than half of the city’s operating revenue, officials said. A sustained shortfall in those sources would require spending reductions or other changes to maintain long-term fiscal stability.

Romine, who led the economic overview, said the city’s fiscal posture has shifted from “stable but fragile” to “fragile.” He told the council that the city expects sales tax to be essentially flat in 2025 compared with prior forecasts and that the revised forecast for 2025 sales-tax receipts is lower than the amount adopted in the 2025 budget. “We have moved from stable but fragile into fragile,” Romine said.

Mosley reinforced the dependence on three revenue streams. “Between those three, it makes up over half of the revenue that supports general fund…