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Woodland Park staff outline 2026 budget projections, set priorities and timeline
Summary
City staff told the City Council at a Sept. 18 work session that 2025 revenues are likely to come in below the original budget but that vacancy savings and reserves reduce the year-end deficit; staff proposed conservative 2026 assumptions and identified capital, parks and staffing as top priorities.
WOODLAND PARK, Colo. — City staff presented preliminary projections and priorities for Woodland Park’s 2026 budget during a Sept. 18 council work session, reporting lower-than-budgeted 2025 revenue but smaller-than-expected year-end deficit and asking council to confirm priorities ahead of a fall schedule of budget briefings and hearings.
Kimberly, staff member, said staff now project 2025 revenues of $12,743,000 compared with the original 2025 budgeted revenue of $15,453,000; expenditures are projected at about $13,084,000, producing a projected year-end deficit of roughly $340,000 compared with an originally budgeted $573,000 shortfall. She attributed much of the revenue reduction to lower-than-expected sales tax receipts tied in part to a reduction associated with the school tax allocation and noted that vacancy savings in several departments helped reduce the gap.
The numbers matter because they shape how much the city can allocate to capital improvement projects and ongoing services. Staff said they are using conservative planning assumptions for 2026 — a 2% increase in sales tax and a 2.1% inflation assumption — while flagging several near-term costs that will affect the city budget.
Staff reported sales tax year to date through July 2025 of $4,902,000, a $94,000 (about 2%) increase over the same period last year; month-to-month the city was essentially flat, with July down about $7,000 (0.9%) versus last July. Lodging tax collections were reported at $141,000 year to date, down about $80,000 (36%) from last year; staff tied the lodging decline to ongoing decreases in short-term rental occupancy and to hotel room discounting and longer-term room rentals.
On investments and interest, staff said the city’s invested funds earned about 4.52% year to date in Colorado Trust and Colorado CSafe pools, which the presenter described as liquid and yielding higher returns than keeping operating cash in a bank account.
Staff listed council priorities carried forward from the council retreat and requested confirmation for the 2026 budget. Those priorities include public safety, staff attraction and retention, housing and zoning, transportation and utilities, economic development, and well-managed budgets and reserves. Citywide staff priorities identified for project programming include streets and drainage (a pavement master-plan refresh and more mill-and-overlay work to address faster-than-expected pavement failure), parks capital improvements (including Meadowood, Bergstrom and Cavalier Park), downtown beautification in partnership with the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), comprehensive water planning and GIS development.
On parks, staff noted a $3,000,000 Meadowood allocation from a prior budget year that has not yet been spent and a $695,000 line item for the Bergstrom parkland purchase included in the year-end projections. Staff said they will pursue grant opportunities where feasible but expect much of the early park programming to rely on fund balance and local contributions; staff cautioned that construction cost estimates have been volatile since RFIs and that project scopes and grant eligibility will determine what can be funded.
Staff also discussed an anticipated acquisition and operating transition for a municipal golf course. Staff said the city is "supposed to close on the golf course on October 19" and that the Bergstrom acquisition was expected to close in late October; staff also said there were no current indications that either closing would not occur as scheduled. For the golf course, staff said they will include a dedicated section in the 2026 budget and are evaluating whether operations would be run in-house or contracted out.
Next steps: staff said they aim to deliver the full budget document to council by Oct. 10, present the budget at a work session on Oct. 16, hold an optional follow-up work session on Nov. 6 if needed, post initial 2026 budget ordinances on Nov. 20 and request adoption at a public hearing on Dec. 4.
Staff framed these presentations as preparatory work to ensure the council’s priorities are reflected in the formal budget package later this fall.
