City of Boulder officials are working out how to bill residents and businesses for a new transportation maintenance fee that city council approved last fall, with payments potentially beginning as early as mid-2026.
The rollout follows one of the more contentious votes taken by Boulder City Council last year. The council voted 6-3 on Oct. 23 to adopt the fee. Mayor Aaron Brockett and Councilmembers Matt Benjamin, Lauren Folkerts, Tina Marquis, Ryan Schuchard and Nicole Speer voted in favor. Councilmembers Taishya Adams, Mark Wallach and Tara Winer opposed it.
The concept of the fee dates back to a 2008 report to the Boulder City Council that provided options for stabilizing the city’s revenue sources. The relatively small per-property fee is expected to generate about $6.4 million annually in future years and would be used specifically for transportation maintenance, including streets, sidewalks, multi-use paths and bridges. Still, critics argued the fee, which was first publicly discussed last fall, moved forward too quickly and caught parts of the business community off guard…