By Loretta Huff
CITY of GOLDEN BUDGET
The City of Golden’s plans to spend $193,000,000 in 2025. (see p. 28). Few of us understand where that money comes from and where it goes. Loretta Huff joined the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee to learn. She has agreed to share what she has learned about Golden's budget in bite-sized pieces over a series of articles in GoldenToday. Here's our first lesson:
2025 BUDGET – Timing and Structure Overview
Each year, the City of Golden staff creates the draft annual operating and capital spending budget. It is presented to City Council in a document called the Budget Message for refinement during fourth quarter with approval each year in December.
The 2025 Budget Message includes a discussion of key items, the 2025 Operating Budget and the Ten-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The detailed Budget and CIP pages generally include actual amounts for 2022 and 2023, budget and projected numbers for 2024, and proposed budget numbers for 2025 and 2026 to allow limited trend analysis.
The City’s Operating Budget consists of numerous separate funds. They range from a Water Fund to a Fossil Trace Fund to a Marijuana Tax Fund to a Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund. A full list of the funds and highlights about each will be covered in upcoming articles.
Anything not addressed by one of these specific funds is included in the General Fund revenues and expenditures. The annual budget for each fund identifies its revenue sources, its expenditure categories, and the actual and projected Fund Balance.
The CIP provides detail about specific capital projects that the City is planning to complete in the next 10 years.