Colorado Springs unveiled its proposed $939 million budget for 2025 Monday, featuring pay increases and new positions for the police department, neighborhood services and sales tax enforcement.

The budget is up from 2024 when the Colorado Springs City Council approved $900 million in spending across all its departments, including entities that are self-sustaining through fees, such as Pikes Peak, parking and the stormwater system. Grants made the largest difference between this year and next year across the whole budget, said Charae McDaniel, chief financial officer. The city also had to increase its spending to keep up with the costs of goods and services, she explained.

The general fund budget that supports core services, such as police and fire protection, will see a modest 2.7% increase up to $440 million. The general fund is heavily dependent on sales tax revenues that have seen some volatility this year with April and July collections dropping below last year. Overall collections of the 2% general city sales tax are up year-to-date through August by 2.3%.

The budget proposes to keep budget cuts it made for this year in place through next year, spend $6.5 million of its reserves while keeping 17% of its general fund in reserve, Mayor Yemi Mobolade said.

“This ensures we can respond to unforeseen challenges while remaining financially responsible,” he said.

Some of the budget cuts, include keeping positions unfilled in departments including city attorney’s office, finance, human resources, planning and municipal court. The number of positions the city is holding open was not immediately available.

McDaniel said the city is tracking the cuts, so they can be funded again potentially in 2026, if revenues allow.

A few departments will see new positions next year in some high-priority areas, such as the police department, sales tax division and neighborhood services.

The city is planning to fund 20 new police officers.

Currently the department is authorized to have 819 officers and employs 787 officers, according to police spokeswoman Caitlin Ford. Of the 787 employed officers, 58 of them are currently in the academy.

The neighborhood services department, responsible for code enforcement and cleanup, expects to add four people, according to the budget.

The sales tax division will add a sales tax investigator and a sales tax auditor and reinstate an analyst. McDaniel expects additional enforcement will help drive new revenue.

To help preserve its workforce, the city is also planning raises. Sworn police officers and firefighters will receive 2% pay increases and civilians are expected to receive on average 2% pay for performance increases.

Civilians currently making below market rate will be eligible for raises up to 4% on their job anniversaries, McDaniel said.

The Gazette’s Mackenzie Bodell contributed to this report.