Broomfield Taxpayer Matters

Council 1st Quarter Expense Report Shows more of the same for Broomfield's Traveling Council.

Remember, back at the January 14, 2025 Council Meeting, the council decided to change their own expense policy, so that they can "share" money from other councilmembers to fund their individual spending overages.

Councilmember (CM) Todd Cohen even tried to tell the you the taxpayers that there was no abuse of these funds, even though we showed you the exorbitant charges and abuse in Councilmember Henkel's, Marsh-Holschen's, and Ward's 2024 travel expenses. And, then a CORA request revealed that Councilmember Marsh-Holschen actually misused his government-issued p-card, for which he had his p-card revoked and now has to have the city staff arrange his travel,. and he must submit expense reports to the city.

Well, these three councilmembers who over spent their budgets in 2024 were joined this year by Mayor Castriotta and Ward 3 Councilmember Jean Lim on the 2025 Broomfield Council tour to Washington D.C.

Boy do we have questions - and you should have questions too:

1) For the NaCO Conference, why did three councilmembers need to attend? For the NLC Conference, why did four councilmembers (including the mayor) need to attend?

2) After abusing his expense budget in 2024, why is Councilmember Marsh-Holschen's hotel expenses $500 more than the other Councilmembers' hotel expenses

3) How many days total did almost half of the Broomfield Council spend in Washington D.C. at the same time that the water rate increases and mess of the single hauler trash program was hitting Broomfield citizens?

4) For the $23,392.95 that was spent in the first three months of 2025, what did Broomfield citizens get? As far as we have been able to find, there has not been a report provided by Councilmember Marsh-Holshen for the NaCO conference or the NLC conference. Mayor Castriotta attended the NLC Conference, but provided no written report.



So after the complete abuse and mismanagement of the expense budget in 2024, the council is doubling down on their disregard of how they spend your tax dollars in the first three months of 2025 to hob-nob out in DC. None of these trips are required in the Council's official capacity to serve Broomfield citizens and taxpayers. They are more interested in these trips at the same time that they are dramatically increasing capital expenses and the city's debt are set to increase dramatically in the next few years. (You'll want to attend our next Budget 201 event on April 26, 2025 to find out how much debt is heading the city's way).

The council should be focused on the best interests of Broomfield; not getting ideas from out of state municipalities who don't share the same problems.

It's well past time for the Broomfield Council to be here and concentrate on the community's priorities, not their pet projects and resumes.

Enterprise Fund Update

At the April 15, 2025 City Council Meeting, Graham Clark, the Finance Director, and Ken Rutt, the Public Works Director, provided the First Quarterly Enterprise Update; the presentation can be found here. The presentation was broken into three time periods.

Past State of Enterprise Funds

There have been a number of rate studies during this council's tenure. The first was completed in 2020/2021 by RBS Bank and looked back to 2012 and using sales and use tax to support the infrastructure. The Willdan Study was completed in 2021/2022, and the AECOM study was completed in 2023. Water rates have increased in the last 3 years as we discussed in our November 4, 2024 newsletter, and we are not done.

Current State of Enterprise Funds

The Enterprise Fund was "stabilized" in 2024 by adding a 50% increased in water rates and a stormwater base fee to your water bill. The idea is that this approach would not depend on usage fluctuations due to annual rainfall, or slower development (remember when they implemented the increased tap fees, which slowed growth?) 

The unaudited 2024 financials show that the water fund revenues will decrease by $500,000 and expenses will increase by $1,100,000. The sewer fund revenues will decrease by $200,000, and the expenses will increase by $1,300,000. Definitely, not sustainable.

Mr. Rutt said that a single-family home uses 110 gallons/person and a multi-family uses 51 gallons/person. Broomfield's population is expected to increase to 119,000 by 2050, and the water demand per year is expected to be 17,263 acre-feet/year. The peak water demand in the winter is 5.5 million gallons per day (MGD) and the peak water demand in the summer is about 5 times that or 24.5 MGD. Public Works needs to focus on four categories of Potable Water: the supply, the conveyance or how the water gets here, the treatment, and the distribution.

Broomfield also currently subsidizes about 2,340 homeowners using the Utility Rate Assistance Fund (URAF). This fund is a newly created government program with a cost of $580,000 ($520K in assistance and $60K for increase personnel) in 2024, and is expected to increase to between $900,000 to $1,000,000 as people find water and sewer unattainable. With the steady expansion of local government, reliance on public aid naturally increases.

Water Storage Costs

Chimney Hollow ($131.5M) will provide 26,464 acre-feet of storage and will take 3 years to fill. Sienna Reservoir ($24.46M) will provide peak summer demand. Broomfield Reservoir ($137M) will provide additional storage needed by 2037. 

To keep up with technology, the City and County of Broomfield has a water replacement program at a cost of $832,249 in 2025, and a total cost of $13.5M over a 12-year period. The waterline replacement cost for 2025 is $4.1M and approximately $291M over the 36-year program.

The now infamous North Area Water Tanks will require a $60-$70M bond (debt) and will provide a 10% buffer by 2032. The city said they found a "viable alternative" related to the project, though it was not clear what that alternative is for the reuse tank at a cost savings of $17.3M. The tank will still be needed by 2030.

The Great Western Reservoir is in need of rehabilitation and three potential alternatives are: 1) Selective Replacement of the Toe Drain and Outlet, 2) Full Dam Replacement (even more money!!!), or 3) Breach and Decommission the Dam. There is also a potential radiological contamination due to Rocky Flats - currently they are sampling the sediment.

Enterprise Fund Balances

• Water Fund in 2029 projects a negative $13.7M balance
• Sewer Fund in 2029 projects a negative $33.2M balance
• Reclaimed Fund projects negative balances starting in 2027.

Other Associated Water Costs

• 2025 Sewer Collection Line Rehabilitation: $1.01M
• 2025 Sewer Lift Station Program: $8.27M
• 2026 Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion: $114M bond/$548.3M cost through 2035, however on a different slide they say they are going to pursue a $130M bond.
• The wastewater treatment facility has cut back on their use of water, so biosolids have increased treatment costs. Regulation costs are 39% of the total cost.

What is happening with Decreased Development Permits?

We saw this story happening 2023 and 2024. and we reported on March 11 2024. As an update for 2024, the CCOB anticipated 841 residential permits but only 376 permits were issued. 1,016 units are projected in 2025, however 369 of those were paid for in 2024. This is more of the same, contributing to the $150M water fund hole the City and County of Broomfield dug themselves in 2023 and 2024.

And here comes the next water rate increase.

Yes, you read that right. The next water rate increase of 15% is anticipated to happen in 2026. Interestingly, the increase will happen after the November 2025 election.

For a situation that we were told is dire, this reeks of politics to save the Broomfield Councilmembers running for re-election to have to face voters and defend another water rate increase. Don't forget that they just raised your rates by 50% this year.

Broomfield Taxpayer Matters is Accepting Donations!

Your generous donation helps us help to hold our local city officials, elected representatives, and politicians accountable!