1 week Ago By Tyler Duncan
Greeley residents can expect a stable financial year of city government operations after city council approved the 2025 budget predicting an excess of funds while increasing funding for new and ongoing projects, including a small amount of funding to the United Way of Weld County’s cold weather shelter to help their efforts of moving to a year-round shelter. The council approved the 2025 budget in a unanimous vote on Oct. 15.
The approval included last-minute amendments that increased funding of city development projects and the funding for the shelter. The shelter funding amendment was proposed by Councilman Tommy Butler and approved on a first reading during city council’s last meeting on Oct. 1 in a 4 to 3 vote.
During the meeting, Butler had provided estimates for the cost to fund the shelter year-round, estimating it to cost anywhere between $260,000 and $750,000. However, Butler believed that it would most likely cost about $400,000. The city ended up going below the minimum range provided by a small margin, dedicating $259,285 in funds from the city’s newly created Revenue Stabilization fund.
The purpose of this funding was to help the cold weather shelter stay open all year instead of closing down during the summer months. With this funding, United Way will be able to get closer to that goal but cannot reach it if they do not receive all the grants they applied for or find additional funding from another source. In addition to the funding provided to United Way, the city of Greeley will allocate $12.
8 million to housing programs in 2025. Grants will provide 80% of the funding. City council also approved $2.
3 million of unbudgeted revenue from 2024 to go toward the city’s Housing For All program before the end of the year in a 7 to 0 vote. As for the rest of the budget, this year will see an increase of about $16.7 million with $10 million of that being one-time fund increases.
In total, the city plans to spend close to $541.8 million over the course of 2025, and over half of that will be devoted to infrastructure and roads. The city approached the 2025 budget with a fiscally conservative mindset, having $324.
1 million of total expenditures just devoted to maintaining current service levels. “You know we’re not Mayberry anymore, and so we have a bigger budget,” Mayor John Gates said, referencing the fictional small town from the TV classic “The Andy Griffith Show.” In the final budget presented by city staff, the city is looking to pull in $582.
4 million in revenue, leaving $40.6 million in excess funds for 2025 that will be held in reserve in case any issues arise during the year. The majority of this revenue will come from $191.
2 million in service fees, like utilities and developmental impact fees, and is followed by a predicted tax revenue of $155.1 million. “I say it every year and I mean it every year, you’ve done a stellar job,” Gates said when congratulating all the city staff members who worked on the budget this year.
To read the 2025 city budget, go to greeley.openbook.questica.
com ..
