Budgeting keeps BC balanced

The Finance Department is in the process of preparing the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. Nevada Revised Statutes require all Nevada cities adopt their final budget on or before June 1. Department directors met with the Finance Department’s budget team last week to review each estimated budget.

Boulder City is committed to budgeting for the future and advancing the long-term fiscal health of our city government, building long-term fiscal sustainability. We work to not just balance our budget and ensure it does not rely on service reductions, but also to take steps to reduce volatility in our budget and ensure we have the tools to deliver services to our community in the future.

Boulder City’s fiscal year budget cycle operates from July 1 to June 30. The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) budgets are critical for infrastructure, public safety, staffing and much more. These budgets cover day-to-day operations: wages, supplies, software, information technology, and more.

Boulder City staff is committed to transparency throughout the process. Last year, the city’s budget approached $50 million. More than 80-percent of the operations budget pays for employee wages. The largest expenditure category is Public Safety, which includes police, animal control, public safety dispatch, and fire. These account for $17.5 million in expenditures – roughly 35% of the budget. Just as other industries have endured rising costs of labor, goods and services, Boulder City staff will likely see cost increases in the coming year.

Efforts to lease land for solar farms and battery storage have enabled our property tax to remain unchanged in recent years. Boulder City’s property tax rate is the lowest of cities in the state of Nevada. Solar leases account for over a third of Boulder City’s annual budget: $13.5 million of the FY2024-25 budget came from solar leases. Going forward, it is anticipated that land lease revenues will approach approximately 40-percent of the overall operating revenues of the city. The city is projecting a very stable revenue stream of close to $14.7 million annually for the next five years based on current leases.

The digital budget book will be available on our website at www.bcnv.org/budget in the coming weeks. We invite residents to attend meetings to learn more and provide input on the FY25-26 budgets. The meetings will be held at City Hall, 401 California Avenue, in the City Council Chambers.

• April 2 at 5 p.m.: Staff-led Resident Budget Workshop (in person only)

• April 15 at 2 p.m.: Council special meeting to review operations and maintenance budgets

• April 22 at 5 p.m.: Regular Council meeting to review, make final changes

• May 13 at 5 p.m. (IF NEEDED): Regular Council meeting, make final changes

• May 27 at 5 p.m.: Regular Council meeting, staff to request approval of final budget

Residents can watch the live stream April 15, April 22, May 13 and May 27 meetings at www.bcnv.org/streaming. They may also contact the Finance Department directly by email at finance@bcnv.org. Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) requires the city provide a final budget by June 1 each year.

(The O&M Budgets differ from the Capital Improvement Plan, a budget for special projects like new buildings, new irrigation systems or major upgrades to existing properties. Those are usually projects that require extensive planning and funding.)