Breckenridge spent around four hours discussing its 2026 budget in a recent meeting as it gears up for a year with less revenue and fewer planned expenditures compared to its 2025 budget. 

Breckenridge Town Council reviewed plans for around $148.8 million in spending and around $134.7 million in revenues for 2026 during an Oct. 14 meeting. The town’s 2025 approved budget put spending expenditures at $157.4 million, but the current projection for 2025 puts that number closer to $143.6 million after a year where the town modified project plans like reducing the scope of its Runway Neighborhood due to economic uncertainty. The town’s current revenue projection for 2025 is at $139.6 million though it was budgeted to be $137.4 million. 

Finance director Dave Byrd said the town will use a key performance indicator of $135 million, meaning the town has that amount liquidated or invested, to measure its financial health. In 2025, the town had a surplus of around $35 million, but in 2026, it only has a surplus of around $5.6 million. 

“The town’s in a financially sound condition,” Byrd said. “We’re making investments, but we are in a very strong financial condition to do that.”

Projects in the pipeline and what officials want to see

The town plans to spend around $13.5 million on capital improvement projects in 2026, with around $8.3 million going toward new projects and $5.1 million for ongoing projects. The capital improvement budget for 2026 is down around 44% compared to 2025’s budget based on the project council selected for the years. 

One of the largest expenditures in 2026 capital improvement fund is one for $1.5 million for fiber infrastructure. The town’s fiber project began from a desire to introduce another broadband provider for residents and businesses, and the infrastructure aspect involves installing conduit lines throughout town so more people can connect to it. Assistant public works director Kristin Brownson said the town has now picked up 1,365 subscribers, which is a 21% increase from the amount of subscribers at the end of 2024. She said they hope to keep the trajectory of having a 20% increase in subscribers each year through 2030. The goal is to have around 3,000 subscribers, or dwellings, connected to the network. 

Council pushed to move forward a project for a roundabout for South Park Avenue that was previously in the “future years” category of the capital improvement budget. The results of a 2017 study recommended making the intersection on South Park Avenue and South Main a roundabout for better access and pedestrian control. Officials cited traffic coming from the south of town as their reason for the push. 

“What I hear a lot is people coming into town in the mornings that they will be trying to get into town for 40 minutes and things way back into Blue River,” Mayor Kelly Owens said. 

Council member Dick Carleton said the southern entrance into Breckenridge will likely only get busier in the coming years because of the rapid population growth of a city to the south. Colorado Springs has experienced stark population growth in the past decade, and the closest ski resort to the city is Breckenridge Ski Resort. He said this could add new trends for weekend traffic coming from the south where most skier traffic typically comes from Interstate 70 to the north. 

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Current estimates put the construction of a roundabout at around $9 million to $11 million and $1.5 million to design it. Town engineer Shannon Smith said she would like more recent data than 2017 before embarking on the project and sending out requests for proposals. Additionally, she said there should be some stakeholder engagement with partners like the Colorado Department of Transportation beforehand. 

Council showed support for funding a traffic study in 2026 for the proposed project, which Smith said could range from $250,000 to $500,000. 

In terms of the town’s housing budget, the most significant expenditure it plans to make is on its Runway Neighborhood project slated to bring 81 units to Airport Road. The town plans to spend around $12.3 million on the project. Housing manager Laurie Best indicated the town could close on a “large” buy-down purchase, where it buys market-rate units and flips them to deed-restricted workforce housing units, anticipated for January. Best said she could not share too many details because negotiations were ongoing. The 2026 budget does detail a $12 million unspecified “housing purchase.”

What the town expects to see in terms of its revenue sources

Revenue manager Pam Ness gave council a closer look into revenues specifically from the excise tax fund, which she and others describe to be the “engine” that supports a wide range of town operations and investments. The excise tax fund comprises sales tax, real estate transfer tax, accommodations tax for lodging among other excise-related revenues. Ness said those revenues in 2026 will fall $2.8 million behind what they were in 2025, with projections showing the fund’s net revenue to be $47.2 million. 

She said the drop is largely driven by an anticipated 3% reduction in sales tax compared to the 2025 sales tax projection, which was $34.5 million. Projections put sales tax at $33.5 million yearly for 2026-28. Council discussed different ways to boost sales tax at the meeting, with some suggesting doling funds to Breckenridge Ski Resort for events that could help drive businesses to the town. 

She explained the sales tax projects are conservative and take into account current economic trends and goals of council like those to support housing and sustainability through capital improvement projects.