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On December 2, 2024, the Johnstown Town Council unanimously approved the 2025 fiscal year budget. The approved budget is a balanced budget and is compliant with CRS 29-1-103 (2), which states “no budget adopted pursuant to this section shall provide for expenditures in excess of available revenues and beginning fund balances.”
2025 will be a very exciting year for our Community with a number of projects focused on directly benefiting residents, businesses, and improving the delivery of services by your local government. Many of the planned projects are initiated with feedback from several outlets including residents, the business community, and Town Council who help to focus and direct budgetary priorities. With this in mind let’s touch on some of the major projects and highlights that you will see in 2025.
Transportation
Transportation improvements are regularly front and center in the Community. While the construction duration is a time of inconvenience during the improvement process, the benefits and outcomes are significant and help to improve safety and traffic flow in the areas of impact.
In 2025, the most significant project will be the construction of a new roundabout at Colorado Boulevard and Roosevelt Parkway. Work is scheduled to begin in late May, with a full closure of the intersection for approximately 80 days to ensure completion before the school year begins in August. Preliminary cost estimates are around $3 million for this project improvement.
The Town has allocated $2.85 million for annual pavement maintenance, including streets, sidewalks, curbs, and alleyways. Since 2020, transportation funding has been increased by over 550%, thanks to the sales tax measure approved by residents. Without this support, we would likely have a different allocation for transportation funding. In 2025, we anticipate also continuing our alley maintenance program by completing two alleyway blocks with concrete as we continue moving forward with elimination of the dirt alleyways in Old Town.
Finally, we have allocated funding for additional improvements to segments of Colorado Blvd. as well as improvements to the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Hwy 60. Determining the exact time of construction is going to be challenging given the coordination with utility companies, adjacent property owners and existing irrigation seasons for our agricultural community. Regardless, segments of
construction will begin this year with additional phases planned in 2026 and the Town is committed these critical improvements to Colorado Blvd and this intersection to ensure safety and better flowing traffic and road conditions.
Facilities
Town owned facilities are critical to ensuring that we are delivering to the Community the services you expect and deserve. Over the next 5 years we will be working to expand and construct new facilities for the Community including the following:
The Police Department Headquarters expansion, increasing the facility by 25%, will be completed by early 2025. Additions include a second sally port, expanded evidence storage, space for future staffing, and a larger training and
emergency operations area. This facility is expected to last for 7-10 years before transitioning to a substation when a new headquarters is built.
In 2025, we also plan to begin construction of a new Development Services Building. This facility will house Planning and Development as well as the Engineering Department. The vision of this facility is to create a one stop shop for
all new development, in-fill development and redevelopment in the Community. Construction will likely run into 2026 and will more effectively deliver planning, development, and construction needs to the Community.
Additionally, in 2025, we will begin design of a new Senior/Community Center. As our senior population continues to grow, so does the need to provide a more useful space for our senior community. While the location has not yet been determined, the facility design will take the better part of 2025, and we will look to begin construction in 2026. While the facility will be developed primarily with the senior community in mind, it will also be made available for community events and rental opportunities as well.
Recreation
Consistently we have heard from residents that recreation is a very high priority. In 2025, we are continuing that emphasis with several major projects focused on recreation and associated amenities. For example, we are nearing completion of the master planning of the Letford Park and Centennial Park sites. Funds have been allocated in 2025 to begin construction on one of these two sites. While the site priority has not yet been determined, the Town is committed to beginning incremental improvements to these tracts of land for the community benefit in creating activities and amenities that everyone in the community can enjoy. Initial concepts of the sites can be found here: Town of Johnstown Master Plan
At Hays Park, a new playground will be installed to replace the current equipment, which has reached the end of its useful life. The new playground will be similar to those upgraded in 2024. The Town will continue to make additional playground improvements to older parks on an annual basis. Unfortunately, we cannot make all of the improvements all at once because of the significant capital outlay that occurs doing this now and when replacement occurs again in 15-20 years.
Finally, we'll be working on the completion of the trail segments along Weld County Road 46 1/2 (Centennial Drive). Construction is currently active for these trail segments, and we anticipate completion by early Q2 of 2025. Following these segments, we will explore other opportunities with the available remaining funds in 2025. Our ultimate long-term goal is to create trail connectivity that connects residential neighborhoods to commercial nodes throughout the Community.
Utility Infrastructure
Without adequate utility infrastructure, many of the above improvements will not be possible. To ensure our future, the Town will continue making critical utility infrastructure improvements to our systems. In 2025, construction of the Central Wastewater Treatment Plant will be completed, addressing state and federal treatment requirements while increasing capacity to support new residential, commercial, and institutional developments.
Finally, the expansion of our Water Treatment Plant will continue in 2025. This will help to ensure that we have the capacity to treat and provide high quality water based on demand in Town. We have sufficient raw water supply in our system currently, but our treatment plant which was initially constructed in the 1960’s does not have the capacity to treat the water demanded during the summer irrigation systems without the use of our water towers and from time to time, the use of emergency connects with other neighboring water providers.
If you have any questions surrounding these projects or any other inquiries regarding projects or the budget process in the community, please feel free to contact the Town Manager or Deputy Town Manager. We welcome and want your constructive feedback on what other opportunities we can capture to better serve the Community.
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