Commerce City proposes $138.5 million 2027 General Fund budget, an 8.5% increase
The proposal increases spending on public safety and public works while officials consider an 8-mill district levy, possible trash fees and responses to a projected 2031 operating deficit.
Commerce City has proposed a $138.47 million General Fund budget for 2027, an increase of $10.88 million, or 8.5%, over the city’s adopted 2026 budget. The proposal would increase spending on public safety and public works, while leaving several revenue decisions unresolved, according to the city’s budget presentation.
The proposal allocates $46.90 million to Public Safety, up $4.46 million, and $27.68 million to Public Works, up $2.46 million. Parks, Recreation and Golf would receive $23.76 million, an increase of $1.50 million.
The city projects a total year-end General Fund balance of $108.81 million after the proposed budget, including $44.83 million in unassigned funds. The separate 2K fund is projected to have a $17.51 million restricted balance; that amount is not part of the unassigned General Fund figure.
The proposal remains subject to revisions. The Sept. 14 workshop is scheduled as an informational session, with no formal staff recommendation or Council action planned, according to a Council and Northglenn Interstate General Improvement District Board communication. The city’s budget hearing is scheduled to open Oct. 19, with Council consideration planned for Nov. 2.
One unresolved issue is the Northglenn Interstate General Improvement District levy. Staff recommends continuing an 8-mill levy rather than reducing it to 7 mills. City materials project that keeping the higher levy could allow the district to repay debt about three years early and save an estimated $1.2 million to $1.3 million in interest. The Council has not adopted that choice.
The city is also considering possible trash and recycling fee changes, including a residential waste fee of about $10 to $20 per month described in earlier long-term financial-plan materials. Those materials estimate the fee could generate roughly $3.2 million annually after administrative and billing costs, but no fee has been adopted.
Under the city’s no-policy-change long-term financial-plan baseline, revenues would grow an average of 4.6% annually while expenditures would grow 6.8% annually. The May 11 financial-plan materials project annual operating deficits beginning in 2031, including a projected $4.5 million gap that year, and no unrestricted fund balance beginning in 2035. Those are projections, not adopted outcomes.
The plan also identifies possible responses including retaining excess property-tax revenue under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, establishing a waste fee and studying a broader tax-equilibrium strategy. The city estimates those measures together could generate $4.5 million to $5 million annually, but the supplied records do not show that any has been adopted.