BROOMFIELD A Look Back to Look Forward, to 2025 and Beyond

By Kristen Beckman

Broomfield is more than just a dot on the map; it’s a community defined by its resilience, innovation, and unwavering commitment to its residents. As we enter a new year, it’s clear that Broomfield is not just keeping pace with the times; it's setting the standard for what a thriving, disciplined, and agile city and county can be.

Fiscally Sound and Future-Ready: Broomfield’s commitment to fiscal responsibility is evident in its consistent bond rating upgrades, culminating in the impressive Aa1 Moody rating in 2024. This is a testament to the City and County of Broomfield’s (CCOB) diligent financial management and ability to repay debts, ensuring stability and enabling strategic investments in essential services and infrastructure. The city’s proactive approach to building operational reserves and exceeding policy levels further solidifies Broomfield’s financial strength and resilience. This responsible fiscal stewardship allows the city to weather economic uncertainties and invest in long-term growth. 2025 is a pivotal year as the Council, the Community, and staff assess the existing goals, said City and County Manager Jennifer Hoffman.

“It takes three years to measure any kind of data gathering,” she said. “We don’t want to count widgets just to count widgets. We want the key performance indicators to inform our next steps, which include discussing modifications to the community goals.”

As such, Hoffman said 2025 should be a year of discipline. As in previous years, city officials have referred to the community goals document to guide projects and spending under consideration to align with the community’s goals. “We’ve got a solid financial footing, but the decisions made in 2025, 2026, and 2027 will be impactful and influence how our community looks, reacts, and moves for the decade to come,” said Hoffman.

She emphasized that Broomfield continues to be rated a top community in Colorado, and maintaining that requires a fiscally sustainable mindset. That means continually evaluating priorities and reallocating resources, and sometimes, that means if a project is added, another project may have to go away.

Economic Vitality and Diversification: Broomfield boasts a diverse and thriving economy. The city’s efforts to attract new businesses and support existing ones have resulted in stable sales and use tax revenue exceeding projections. This positive trend, fueled by a robust business community and strong consumer spending, demonstrates Broomfield’s economic strength. Broomfield’s strategic focus on attracting businesses in key sectors, including finance, IT, and professional services, has yielded impressive results. Employment growth in these sectors has outpaced the metro area, demonstrating Broomfield’s attractiveness to businesses and its commitment to creating high-quality jobs.

Catalytic Developments Shaping Broomfield’s Future: Broomfield’s landscape is transforming and is driven by catalytic development projects that contribute to economic vitality and enhance residents' overall quality of life. Stay current on the progress of each of the catalytic developments on the city’s Broomfield.org/BroomfieldVoice website, or tune in to an upcoming Council meeting as the respective development teams provide quarterly updates (council agendas are available at Broomfield.org/CityCouncil meetings.

Flatiron Crossing's redevelopment is a game-changer, with the HiFi village poised to become a mixed-use destination, offering residential units, retail spaces, and a central outdoor amenity plaza; construction is underway.

Baseline's ongoing development continues to expand housing options, with the Center Street District envisioned as a community hub featuring a grocery store, commercial spaces, and a variety of housing types; construction will begin in late 2025 or early 2026.

Broomfield Town Square planning continues to develop a vibrant, walkable destination with residential, retail, and community spaces, further enhancing the city's appeal. Staff continues to work with the developer in preparation for the commencement of construction.

The redevelopment of the former event center site (now known as the Broomfield Urban Transit Village) is a testament to the city’s forward-thinking approach. Demolition began in November 2024 and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2025. The next step is to engage a developer with a vision for a mixed-use project featuring innovative workspaces, various housing options, and retail/entertainment businesses, creating a dynamic and energized space in the Arista area.

Turning to internal functions, after recalibrating from COVID-19 and Oil & Gas operations, the focus needs to begin updating and solidifying internal controls and efforts, she said. Two of the city’s main focuses in 2025 and 2026 are transitioning its 20+-year-old financial system to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which manages all money-related processes and HR functions, and developing an asset management system/plan. Hoffman said proposal requests are going out soon for the ERP system, and the city hopes to have a system chosen by the fourth quarter with a transition to the new system beginning in 2026. “Internally, that is a huge lift for us that touches all departments,” said Hoffman. “Everything relies on it, and everything touches it.”

Hear more as the City Council holds its annual focus session on Saturday, February 8, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the BCC’s Crawford Room. Staff will present an overview of the current financial conditions, development updates, state legislative efforts, and budget building for 2026. And, keep an eye out for more information as the staff and Council prepare to kick off the year-long update to the 2016 Comprehensive Plan; the Comprehensive Plan is divided into 11 sections ranging from community identity and land use for housing, utilities, and oil and gas. The Comp Plan is updated every 10 years and is considered Broomfield's ‘north star.’ “The objective is to outline the mission, vision, values, and long-term goals of the community,” said Hoffman.

Broomfield is an example of a city that is not just planning for the future but actively building it. As residents, we have much to be proud of and more to look forward to.