City of Boulder

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CITY SEES MODEST GAIN IN SALES TAX RECEIPTS IN 2004
There was a little positive news for the City of Boulder on the sales tax front as year end receipts for 2004 were ahead of 2003, ending three years of declining numbers. Retail sales tax receipts in December 2004 were up 6.2 percent compared to December 2003. For the year, 2004 retail sales tax receipts were up 1.45 percent compared to 2003. When all taxable sales are calculated, including construction materials, business-to-business transaction and automobiles, sales and use tax revenue in 2004 is up by 1 percent compared to 2004. The city’s 2004 budget anticipated a 3 percent gain in sales and use tax receipts.

COUNCIL REVIEWS ECONOMIC STRATEGY PROGRESS
City Economic Vitality staff presented their progress and work plan to the City Council at a study session on February 22. The Work Plan focuses on five areas: primary businesses; retail; Downtown boulder and University Hill; redevelopment; and, tourism and the arts. Primary business strategies seek to support retention and expansion, industry specific cluster initiatives, regulatory and financial assistance, real estate investment and business incubation. Retail strategies focuses on revitalizing the City’s retail centers and BIDs. Parking issues, marketing, positioning and business plan implementation highlight the Downtown and University Hill strategies. Redevelopment strategies will seek to support redevelopment sites, encourage public-private partnerships and rebuild underutilized properties. Strategies on tourism and the arts is lead by plans to construct a conference center, brand Boulder as a destination city, promote mew and varied sporting events along with art and cultural activities. While City Council raised questions in the discussion, they appeared satisfied with current Economic Vitality progress and the direction of the programs. Observers were less enthusiastic, suggesting that a much more aggressive program is needed for Boulder to be competitive regionally.

BUSINESS LEADERS FOCUS IN ON ECONOMIC POLICY
The material below is a DRAFT of the key concepts, principals, vision and categories that BARA and other business interests have been focusing on since early January relative to the five-year major update to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP). Over the next several weeks, the BVCP Task Force will finalize specific policy and language amendments to the BVCP that reflect the business community’s recommendations that are necessary for Boulder to rebuild and secure the long-term health of our local economy. These recommendations will be forwarded to city and county officials during the formal adoption process that will begin with a study session on April 26. BARA members will be asked to contact public officials in support of the recommendations.
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan
Task Force

Key Concepts

“Our economy is the engine that helps produce the positive things people associate with Boulder.”

Boulder’s business community is motivated to create a thriving local economy that provides the financial support for the services and amenities our citizens and visitors expect. With this motivation, we believe the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan must provide the vision and framework for Boulder to compete and thrive as a regional leader. This means the Comp Plan shall provide the flexibility and opportunity for Boulder to not only maximize its unique attributes but also to address changing economic realities that may put the city at a regional disadvantage.

There are seven key philosophical principles whose concepts must be integrated into the overall language of the Comp Plan. Each of these exists in a matrix of overall importance, with no principle able to be championed or excluded on its own.

1) Overall growth management philosophies created to slow the vibrant economic boom of the 1990s are no longer appropriate given Boulder’s recent history of declining and/or flat sales tax revenue and stagnant job growth.

2) Boulder will retain and strengthen its economic competitiveness on a regional level.

3) Boulder will remain a regional job center.

4) Jobs are the driving force behind Boulder’s economy. The city’s budget relies on sales tax revenue, which comes from retail, which follows overall job creation.

5) Analysis of appropriate and necessary retail development will NOT focus solely on Big Box retailers.

6) The phrase “affordable housing” misses the point. The Comp Plan shall identify the need and desire for “access to housing.” This allows for various techniques to be used to assist Boulder’s residents with housing options beyond simple price controls and deed restrictions applied to arbitrary percentages of the housing stock.

7) Accept the reality that many of Boulder’s visitors and residents will continue to prefer to travel with personal vehicles. To remain competitive, Boulder’s transportation improvement projects will necessarily include traditional automobile systems as well as alternative modes.

There are six key categories in which the above principles must be integrated throughout the Comp Plan:

1. Jobs
   2. Transportation
   3. Retail Development
   4. Housing
   5. The Built Environment
   6. Tourism
   
   

By integrating the above philosophical principles throughout the language that addresses these six categories, Boulder will be setting a course for a future that builds upon our city’s strengths as a unique destination and place to live. With a viable, intelligent balance between these categories Boulder will remain a location known for its high quality of life and will continue to attract and maintain a population that is the envy of our state.