AURORA | Balancing a $20 million shortfall in Aurora’s $1.3 billion budget next year will likely involve employee furloughs, some cuts, unfilled vacant positions and borrowing from the city’s rainy day fund — but no layoffs, city officials said Tuesday.
“We are well-positioned to deal with some difficult times,” Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor told city lawmakers during their annual budget review for next year. “That’s because of good stewardship and financial guidance over the past several years.”
Aurora city government leaders presented their 2026 budget outlook to city council, detailing next year’s $20 million budget shortfall and a series of proposed cost-saving measures, revenue tweaks and reserve withdrawals aimed at balancing the city’s books while still funding new public safety needs.
“Nobody likes to lay folks off, and I think that’s first and foremost in their mind, is they’re looking at these positions,” Batchelor said.
The majority of city revenue comes from sales taxes.
The city’s revenue is growing, just not as fast as the city’s expenses, Batchelor said. This is due to pay raises, health insurance hikes and inflation in technology contracts.
The city is asking lawmakers to combine $10.2 million in expenditure cuts, including four furlough days, creating $2 million in savings, a reduction in the subsidy to city recreation programs, tagged at $1.5 million, shifting misdemeanor domestic violence cases from municipal to district court, saving the city $1 million in 2026 and a 25% reduction in travel and training budgets.
There could be cuts for many unfilled positions, according to the plan, which must be approved by the city council at a future meeting.
Councilmember Curtis Gardner asked whether dipping further into reserves might be preferable to furloughing employees, and Batchelor said that each furlough day accounts for about $500,000 in savings.
The city also plans for $1.8 million in new revenue with possible changes to fees and other sources.
New revenue includes savings from the dental insurance fund, estimated at $700,000 as a one-time source, proceeds from Lamar Signs, which will add approximately $500,000 to revenue, auction proceeds, which will add another $500,000, and possibly charging credit card fees to customers instead of the city covering those costs.
Finally, the city plans to take $8 million from its so-called recession reserve, which is about 28% of the balance in the fund.
“We will pay it back, I promise you.” Greg Hays, budget manager, said.
Even with cuts, the proposed budget includes $4.6 million in new spending for public safety. This includes making technology upgrades and adding positions in the police department, and matching funds for grants to staff and equip two new fire stations at Aurora Highlands and in Blackstone.
The city is also reestablishing the Office of Police Accountability.
A federal SAFER grant would cover most of the 34 firefighter positions for the new stations, contributing to a net increase of 42 full-time employees citywide.
Although a $20 million shortfall may seem substantial, the issue is not expected to persist for years, as the city has investments that should naturally balance the budget in the coming years, according to Hays.
Hays said sales tax continues to make up two-thirds of the city’s general fund, but growth is slowing. July brought a one-time windfall, increasing revenue by 13.8% primarily because of two unusually large business payments. Otherwise, most sectors remained flat or declined.
August is expected to show a slight decline, Hays said.
City budget officials said that despite this year’s budget shortfalls, the upside-down finances are only projected to be part of a two-year struggle.
“Two-thirds of the money in the general fund is based on all of us buying something,” Hay said. “That’s why we always say: Buy Aurora.”
Despite the current squeeze, Batchelor said the economic outlook is a little more V-shaped, meaning that things are expected to improve in 2027 and beyond.
“We need to make sure that we stay vigilant, make sure that the downturn doesn’t start to go U-shaped a little bit longer,” Batchelor said. “So we’ll keep an eye on that.”
General fund capital spending is expected to decrease due to reduced revenues, while smaller funds, such as the golf and 911 funds, are slated for increases.
Aurora last raised its property tax rate 25 years ago, and sales tax rates have remained unchanged for 32 years, Batchelor said, hinting at other possibilities, while the current budget balancing strategy relies instead on restraint and reserves.
I am so curious about these budget concerns at the city and county level. The tax increases and debrucing were pushed as solutions but I’m not hearing solutions, just cuts and deficits. Can we get some more transparency? Or what am I missing?
20 million is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Let’s hear from the citizens on the budget committee.
Four million wasted on a consent decree and a monitor that accomplishes little more than feel good policies. Meanwhile they will cut training that is already inadequate and leads to unnecessary deaths.
It’s about time our bloated city government started to make cuts to address the budget issue. As long as they don’t cut back on the police budget, I’m all for doing whatever is necessary to make Aurora fiscally responsbile (although I doubt that will ever really happen. This city is run by bureaucratic clowns. Tax and fee increases are never the right solution.
Desert- I share your hatred of government waste but the “cut-to-the-bone” strategy has been standard operating procedure for decades. That’s all our hyper-conservative city council was brave enough to do. Just look at the suddenly closed rec center and the desperate use of debt to resolve years of deferred road maintenance. This is poor financial planning straight up by a largely conservative city council. Defer maintenance, cut budgets, and kick the can has been their strategy– if you can call it that.
Yes, there’s some waste but when sales tax is the city’s primary source of funds and your retail/dining economy per capita lags your biggest neighbor by 59% and the state average by 14%, you recognize the root cause is the anemic retail/dining. Fourteen points below average objectively earns an F grade. When ideology demands you ignore the numbers, the ultra-conservatives fiddle while our roads and facilities crumble.
Its time for new leadership. With the exception of CM Jurinsky, our city leaders have had their heads stuck in the sand.
When will City Council acknowledge that the Retail Tax Base (per capita) is among the weakest in Colorado? I’ve asked this question for years and I’ve been defamed several times as a result, but no one is coming forth with any better data than what I used from 2016. Is it that they don’t want to acknowledge the truth?
Yes, sales tax receipts will grow somewhat with inflation and population growth, but when no one is coming to Aurora to dine and we all leave town for entertainment, the city’s primary source of revenue chronically sputters.
Any claim that the City of Aurora is financially healthy is absolutely absurd. Yes, the credit rating is okay but the city just closed an aging rec center where maintenance has been deferred for years. Where was the financial planning for the replacement? Was it just more to popular to ignore the maintenance and kick the can down the road?
The city also deferred road maintenance in the years prior to COVID when the national economy was white hot and then sold debt to catch up. Our retail economy couldn’t support the growing residential road network then when things were really good. Why should we believe adding more miles of residential roadway without addressing the chronically depressed retail isn’t making our city government even much weaker now and in the future?
Voters: Press the candidates on specific solutions to fix retail and dining in Aurora. Vote for no candidate that appears clueless or claims Aurora doesn’t have a serious financial problem rooted in the depressed retail tax base. Walk away from any candidate that claims Aurora is financially vibrant and strong. It isn’t.
Mayor Coffman and other conservatives:
“It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.” — Thomas Sowell
I have found out that,all the Mayor’s across the country,have their Annual meetings,and they all come up with these same problems,just a few months ago Denver came up with the same problems,and the actions are the same,let’s make cuts to our employees,but with all of this,our taxes are continuing to go up.i think these Counsel people don’t know what they are doing.But I think that if,the counsel would stop approving,all of these contracts,the these small businesses and keep the work with the City employees and invest in good training for all city employees in which it applies,keep the money,with the City,and make better decisions for our City,,I think that is their job,or elected for.I will say this the last time I was as a city council meeting,I thought I was at a business meeting,it was so many Suits there I was totally at awe,and I said to myself where am i. I was totally shocked,at what I was seeing it was a big business meeting, Corporate Greed at its best.I said to myself this is where all of our tax dollars are going,to pay these businesses,for services,that the City Employees can be doing at a lower cost.So I see the whole big picture,these are tactics,to raise our taxes at the end of the day,one last point,the Police don’t need anymore funding for anything, because they are totally abusing the funds now.