Commerce City council approves budget direction, keeps $2 million for road projects and orders further reductions

The Commerce City Council voted unanimously Thursday to advance a revised 2026 budget package while keeping a $2 million allocation for Phase 1A pavement management and directing staff to identify $1 million in additional reductions.

City Budget Manager Chris Johnson presented the workshop materials, summarizing sources, uses and staff balancing recommendations for the 2026 general fund and the capital improvement program. "Tonight is the 2026 city council budget workshop," Johnson told the mayor and council. He reported a revised set of decision packages that reduced the request from about $3.4 million to roughly $2.7 million and outlined staff proposals including a potential one-time transfer from the fleet management internal service fund and a recommended 2 percent vacancy-savings factor.

Why this matters: councilors and staff said they want to balance near-term pressures — rising operating costs, a larger base budget and a predicted loss in property-tax revenue tied to TABOR — without cutting critical services such as public safety. The package advanced at the workshop sets the council's direction for the formal public hearing process in October and November.

Key decisions and votes

- Motion to move the budget forward as read by the city attorney (keeping the $2,000,000 additional allocation for Phase 1A pavement projects, reducing the revised "yes" decision packages, removing the seasonal banner program and directing staff to find $1,000,000 in other reductions): moved by Council Member Dukes, seconded by Council Member Ford. The motion passed unanimously by roll call.

- Motion to direct the city manager to present the revised 2026 budget for the public hearing schedule: moved by Council Member Teeter, seconded by Council Member Ford. That motion passed unanimously by roll call.

What staff recommended and what the council acted on

Johnson and finance staff outlined a multi-part approach to narrow a projected structural gap without substantially changing service levels: a proposed transfer from the fleet management fund (staff identified up to $5 million as available in 2026 in discussion), a 2 percent vacancy-savings budgeting approach (estimated to generate more than $1 million in nominal salary savings and a net of about $600,000 after right-sizing public-safety overtime), phase-downs to some decision packages (about $650,000 of savings from previously proposed items), and a modest upward revision to sales-tax forecasts (about $1.4 million). Johnson noted that property-tax revenue is constrained under TABOR, saying, "we're going to have to reduce our mill levy rate by 0.667 for the next year," which staff estimates will lower 2026 property-tax collections by about $1.4 million compared with using the full mill levy.

Council discussion focused on trade-offs. Some members argued for protecting pavement-management funding to address aging arterials and local streets; others pushed to find savings in non‑frontline areas or to defer lower-priority capital requests. Council repeatedly rejected furloughs and broad hiring freezes as first-line options; councilors and staff said those would create real service impacts.

Next steps and calendar

Staff will return the proposed budget for the public hearing cycle: the council will open the public hearing on October 20 and is scheduled to close it on Nov. 3, 2025. Staff were also directed to provide a targeted analysis of options (including the potential fleet transfer and other non-service-impact reductions) and to provide a fiscal summary showing the effects of approved balancing actions on the unassigned general fund balance.

Ending note: the motion adopted at the workshop establishes council direction but does not finalize the 2026 budget. The figures presented by staff remain subject to the public hearing process and further adjustments before final adoption.