It's municipal budget season around the state, and the city of Colorado Springs is currently putting together next year's budget. Mayor Yemi Mobolade delivered his 2026 budget to city council earlier this month.
He recently sat down with KRCC's Briana Heaney to talk about it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
KRCC’s Briana Heaney: Talk to me about the budget. I know it's going to be pretty tight this year.
Mobolade: Yeah, it is. Where we are is a $427 million general fund budget. That is $11 million less than last year. So it's a decrease, but as a whole, it's $31 million in terms of savings we had to find to make the 2026 budget work because we have declining revenues in light of all the economic uncertainty that is happening nationally. This is not unique to Colorado Springs.
Heaney: A large part of the deficit or gap was an increase in the cost of doing business for the city. Can you talk to me about what led to those increases?
Mobolade: Those are global. That's macroeconomic factors. Not only is the City of Colorado Springs feeling it, businesses are feeling it, and some of that is whether it's tariffs, inflation, there’s economic uncertainty. There's so many macroeconomic factors that businesses, American households are facing, that also city governments are facing, and they're just beyond our control.
Heaney: I'm going to zoom out by about 30,000 feet and ask, what about the loss of Space Command and the apparent targeting of blue states, especially considering we have five military bases?
Mobolade: Well, Colorado is a blue state. Colorado Springs is a purple (city). I would argue we're more purple. Some would argue it's red, and I do believe we lean more conservative. And ultimately, we're very Libertarian in our roots. So at our core, we have a different identity. And you've mentioned five military installation bases. So that puts us in a unique place. And I do think the Feds have to be careful in terms of my community because the role that we play in our nation's defense is a very important role. Now, Space Command was moved. I believe that decision was not in the best interest of our nation's security, moving a major combatant command at a time — whereas all you have to do is turn on the TV and you can see all the global tension that is happening.
But we're living in hyper-political times. We worked hard to keep that command here for my city, but most importantly, for the nation's interests. And also, what's the best decision for our taxpayers moving that cost millions, if not potentially billions of American taxpayer money?
But I want to be clear, what we lost was largely symbolic. So in terms of the timing of when it moves, that is still unknown. But what Colorado Springs remains is that it's still an epicenter of aerospace, space defense and cybersecurity operations in the country.
Heaney: Last time we talked, things had gotten pretty contentious between your office and city council. Where do things stand now?
Mobolade: I'm just going to be honest and say what we're dealing with is politics. My track record of the first two years in office wasn't contentious. We do have a new council leadership structure. Politics is alive and well in local government as it is in federal government.
Heaney: How is the budget process going, and what needs to happen to get it to the finish line?
Mobolade: We've done a lot of work. We've been very transparent with the public. We've made some tough decisions. I can't control the political environment, but I will keep politics away from the quality of life of our residents. I will use my positional authority if the budget situation gets to a place where, if I feel like it's going to harm our residents, not under my watch
