The City of Boulder is grappling with uncertainty regarding the disbursements of federal funding as the Trump administration has threatened to take away federal funding from sanctuary cities. The city has not been issued any formal notice about funding that has been allocated to Boulder for this fiscal year, but city officials are attempting to prepare for the possibility that the city will not receive all allocated funds.
The City of Boulder has $91 million for this fiscal year from federal grants and awards. At least $55 million of that has not yet been paid out by the federal government, although some of those funds have already been spent. If the federal funds are cut from the city’s budget, it could impact affordable housing projects, transportation safety improvements and social services.
The Longmont Leader reported last week about budget cuts by the City of Boulder due to operation costs, which has led to a reduction in bed capacity for All Roads, the largest homeless shelter in the county. The city is dealing with higher operational costs and the expiration of COVID-era funding sources.
“The city is continuously monitoring potential changing legislation and policies proposed that may implicate the city’s federal awards,” said Charlotte Huskey, Boulder’s budget officer. “To the extent possible, we are focused on prioritizing project development and implementation strategies to not cease activities that may be implicated by federal funding decisions.”
Councilmember Mark Wallach suggested that the city should not “overreact to things he [President Trump] has not yet done.” He said that “trying to project, and act on your own projections, is a little bit of a fool’s errand because we don’t know what it’s going to be like tomorrow.”
Wallach said the uncertainty makes it difficult to budget for long-term expenses, but he said “so far, so good.” The funding hasn’t been cut and the potential cuts from federal funding are speculative.
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