City of Boulder Ballot Question 2C – Council Pay
Should Boulder’s mayor and city council be paid more?
- Proponents argue that council’s extremely low pay ($12,000 in 2024, paid per meeting) limits who can afford to hold office.
- Serving on city council requires many hours of work per week beyond weekly public meetings.
- The overwhelming majority of council members have been homeowners and active or retired members of the professional class.
- Raising 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 overtaxed, and revenue is projected continue its long-term slowdown.
- The pay increase will not benefit any current members of council unless they are re-elected; it goes into effect after their terms have ended.
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2D – Executive Sessions
Should 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, real estate transitions, etc., as outlined by state law) if six of the nine members agree to do so.
- Currently, the council meets in groups of one or two with city staff to discuss these matters. The city attorney also uses confidential memos.
- Proponents argue this would allow business to be handled more efficiently.
- Executive sessions would be recorded. If the city is found to have improperly used executive session via a lawsuit, the recordings will be made public.
- Abuses of executive session are common at all levels of government in Colorado: Five Colorado cities and one school district were found to have improperly used executive sessions in the past 18 months.
- Lawsuits impose a significant barrier to obtaining meeting recordings.
- Council could meet secretly with any group or person in executive session, without disclosing who.
- State lawmakers control what is allowed to be discussed in executive session. If they decide to loosen or tighten restrictions, Boulder would be subject to those changes unless a citizen petition or sitting council forced the matter to a vote.
City of Boulder Ballot Question 2E – Boards and Commissions Changes
Should elected officials have more control over city advisory boards?
- This measure gives the city council more control of boards and commissions, allowing them to set priorities and change rules for member criteria, lengths of terms and — most importantly — removal of members. Currently, such changes must be OK’ed by the voters.
- More flexibility in board and commission policies and operations could help with recruitment.
- These changes would give the city more legal leeway to remove board and commission members.
- Easing the removal process could open the door to more politicized removals of members.