City of Boulder Ballot Question 2C – Council Compensation

Should the mayor and city council of Boulder be paid more?

• Proponents argue that the council’s extremely low pay ($12,000 in 2024, paid per meeting) limits the number of people who can afford to hold office.
• Working on the city council requires many hours of work per week in addition to the weekly public meetings.
• The vast majority of council members were homeowners and active or retired members of the professional class.
• An increase in Council pay would cost the City an additional ~$263,882.52 or 0.13% of the General Fund (in 2024 dollars).
• Boulder’s general fund is already stretched and revenue is expected to continue to slow in the long term.
• The raise will not benefit current council members unless they are re-elected; it comes into force after the end of their term of office.

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City of Boulder Ballot Question 2D – Board Meetings

Should the Boulder City Council be allowed to hold private meetings?

• This measure would allow the full council to meet privately to discuss certain matters (personnel, negotiations, property transfers, etc., as set forth in state law) if six of the nine members agree to do so.
• Currently, the council is meeting one-on-one or in pairs with city staff to discuss these matters. The prosecutor also uses confidential memos.
• Proponents argue that this would allow for more efficient business conduct.
• Board meetings would be recorded. If a lawsuit finds that the city misused executive branch meetings, the records will be made public.
• Abuse of executive sessions is common at all levels of government in Colorado: five Colorado cities and one school district have been found to have abused executive sessions in the last 18 months.
• Lawsuits represent a significant barrier to obtaining meeting recordings.
• The council could secretly meet with any group or person in executive session without revealing who.
• The state legislature controls what can be discussed in executive session. If they decide to ease or tighten restrictions, Boulder would be subject to those changes unless a citizen petition or board of session forces a vote on the matter.

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City of Boulder Ballot Question 2E – Changes to Boards and Commissions

Should elected officials have more control over city boards?

• This measure gives the City Council more control over boards and commissions and allows it to set priorities and change rules for membership criteria, term lengths and, most importantly, the removal of members. Currently, such changes must be approved by voters.
• Greater flexibility in board and commission policies and procedures could help with recruiting.
• These changes would give the city more legal flexibility to remove board and commission members.
• Facilitating the exclusion process could open the door to more politicized exclusions of members.

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