Wheat Ridge adopts 2026 budget, adds $35,000 for cultural trainings and community-garden planning

Wheat Ridge city council on Friday approved the city’s 2026 budget, which projects roughly $126 million in total funds available, about $101 million in appropriations and approximately $24 million in reserves.

The council also approved a $35,000 budget amendment proposed by Councilor Rachel Holten to fund two cultural-awareness trainings (one for officials and staff and one for the community), a parks-and-recreation needs assessment and recommendations for strategic partnerships to support community gardens, and work to develop sustainable relationships with tribal partners and stipends for BIPOC participants in planning. The amendment passed 6–2; the final budget passed unanimously.

City Manager Patrick Goff, who presented the proposal, said the draft “balances financial stability with progress, positioning Wheat Ridge to advance its vision, ensuring that essential services are funded while transformative projects move forward.” Goff told council the city projects $51 million in general-fund revenue in 2026 and proposes slightly more than $53 million in general-fund expenditures, a 7% increase driven largely by software and traffic-enforcement costs and compensation changes.

Nut graf: The 2026 plan funds ongoing services and a mix of capital projects aimed at infrastructure and open-space work while responding to recent public debate over community-garden operations and equity. The $35,000 amendment was framed by proponents as a targeted, near-term investment to address community tensions raised in recent public comment and to build capacity for longer-term, community-led garden programming.

Key details: The overall 2026 budgets rose roughly $5.8 million, or 6%, from the adopted 2025 budget. Major capital highlights in the packet included a $7 million multiuse path along Wadsworth (largely grant-funded), $2.2 million in Renewal Wheat Ridge bond projects, $11 million budgeted for the 30th Avenue corridor project (Youngfield to Kipling) staged from the 2J bond, and $3.9 million budgeted for targeted drainage repairs. The administration reported the proposed budget leaves approximately $24 million unappropriated across funds at year end and that the city expects to receive about $1.8 million from the sale of the Fruitdale School Lofts; Councilor Janice Hoppe said that sale will raise reserves from about 17% to roughly 19% when completed.

Council debate and the amendment: Councilor Holten described the $35,000 amendment as a package to reintroduce cultural-awareness training previously offered, to fund a parks-and-rec needs assessment for garden operations, to fund tribal-partnership development and to support a community-garden strategic-operations plan with stipends for BIPOC participants. Holten said the proposed trainings and planning would “help us be able to continue scaffolding on the success we’ve had” and improve long-term stewardship of food- and land‑based programs. Holten introduced the amendment, and Councilor Janice Hoppe seconded it. Councilors who supported the amendment noted the money was small relative to the overall budget and would advance work raised in public comment; opponents said the proposal arrived late in the budget cycle and requested more time for study.

Councilor Holten noted consultants estimated two trainings (development and delivery) could be in the roughly $10,000 range depending on scope; staff confirmed they had discussed costs with vendors and estimated that order of magnitude. Staff also said that some garden operations are funded but that a targeted strategic and operations plan for community gardens did not appear in the parks-and-rec master plan at the level of detail proponents requested.

Vote and next steps: Council approved the $35,000 amendment by a 6–2 vote; the amended budget then passed on final vote with an 8–0 poll of the council. Council directed staff to schedule a future study session to discuss an equity-audit approach and to incorporate the amended items into implementation and the city’s planning and reporting schedule.

Ending: The adopted budget authorizes the staff to proceed with the projects and directs staff to provide follow-up reports, including work on the community-garden operations plan and the cultural trainings. The city will publish the adopted budget documents and incorporate the $35,000 amendment into next year’s implementation schedule.