NCA Analysis on the Current Niwot Incorporation Proposal

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Contracted Police/Sheriff Services

Note: This article has been reviewed by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

 

A group of local citizens has formed a committee with the purpose of advancing a plan for the incorporation of Niwot – making Niwot a city. The committee is named  “The Niwot Incorporation Committee.” You can view complete details of their proposition at www.niwot.town.  

As part of our commitment to inform our members and the community on issues that could impact them, the Niwot Community Association (NCA) has formed a committee to meet with stakeholders, research legal policies, and analyze each of the components of the proposal.  Over the coming months we will publish results of ongoing research to help the citizens of the greater Niwot community be well informed.

To view all NCA analysis articles related to Niwot incorporation, please visit our issue page:
www.niwot.org/2026-niwot-incorporation/

 

The NCA did not initiate the current incorporation effort
 and neither endorses nor opposes it.

The NCA board does not advocate or endorse any specific issue or candidate. Information is being provided to fulfill our charter as a conduit of information so that the public can be well informed. When appropriate, the NCA will conduct community surveys to gauge sentiment, gather feedback, and collect questions for issues that need additional clarification.

 

Services no longer provided by the county

If Niwot successfully incorporates there are services currently provided by Boulder County that the City of Niwot would have to provide for itself.  Under Colorado statutory law, all county services will continue to be provided by the county for a period of time while the City of Niwot gets organized; there would be no lapse in any service.

This article focuses on police/sheriff services for an as-yet-formed City of Niwot, which could be provided for in one of two ways:

  1. City of Niwot forms its own police department
  2. City of Niwot contracts for these services from an outside provider 

In either scenario, the City of Niwot (if formed) would be obligated to provide law enforcement services that meet or exceed the current levels presently provided to unincorporated Niwot by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

Niwot High School Resource Officer

The School Resource Officer (SRO) at Niwot High School is paid for by St. Vrain Valley School District and would not be impacted by Niwot incorporating into a city.

 

 What is being proposed?

Ultimately, it is up to the government of an incorporated city to decide how best to provide police services; however, as part of its feasibility study, the Incorporation Committee proposes that the City of Niwot contract law enforcement services from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office rather than forming its own police department.

The feasibility study and budget created by the Incorporation Committee are non-binding; again, it would be up to the government of the City of Niwot.  However, the petition that will define the November election ballot measures will be tailored to the City of Niwot, matching the scope of the feasibility study and budget.

The petition draft will be presented early March, and filed late March.  For details on the timeline, please see our previous article: “Introduction and Timeline”.

 

Proposed Budget

The year 2029 would be the first full year that a City of Niwot would need to contract for police/sheriff services.

At the January 22 community meeting, the Incorporation Committee budget showed:

  • $468,000 with an annual increase of 4%. 

    See source below, Niwot Incorporation Committee →
    January 22 public forum slides → Slide #19 “Pro Forma Budget – Expenses (Part 1)
  • Service described as “a full-time deputy assigned to Niwot”

    See source below, Niwot Incorporation Committee →
    January 22 public forum slides → Slide #24 “Public Safety – Incorporation Allows Us to Set Priorities

 

On February 18, an updated budget was posted to the incorporation website (www.niwot.town):

  • $450,000 with an annual increase of 4%

    See source below, Niwot Incorporation Committee →
    2026-02-18 Pro Forma Budget & Financial Assumptions, page 4
  • Service described as: “approximately two full-time equivalent (2.0 FTE) deputies”

    See source below, Niwot Incorporation Committee →
    2026-02-18 Pro Forma Budget & Financial Assumptions, page 14

 

Contracting with the Boulder County Sheriff’s office

The NCA has met in person with Sheriff Curtis Johnson and had some follow-up interactions.  The goal was to understand how contracted services would work, how much it would cost, and how it would compare to the current level of service that unincorporated Niwot receives.

The Boulder County Sheriff currently contracts services to Lyons, Nederland, and Superior.  

Sheriff Johnson made clear that it is a priority to formalize the contracted services that his office provides.  At the start of his term as sheriff, the contracts with Lyons, Nederland, and Superior were negotiated independently, with inconsistent costs and services.  As contracts renewed with each of these cities, standard terms and prices were applied to all.  

Standard terms:

  • Units of services are in 25% increments of a full time employee (FTE).
  • Each service provided has a base and overhead FTE cost
  • Each week consists of 4 shifts, each day has 2 shifts: days and nights
  • A 24/7 contract is required
  • Contracting for a fractional FTE of a detective deputy is required
  • Each city must provide secure office space for deputies with bathroom access
  • Every contract must include provisions for “Exceptional Circumstances” to cover the costs of overtime/out-of-the-ordinary work
  • If a city enacts codes that are to be enforced by the sheriff, then the city must provide all the materials and services required: e.g. ticket books, clerk, judge, court, etc.

    No such codes have been discussed, but examples could be:

    • No parking zones
    • Street parking not to exceed 72 hours

Note: The Incorporation plan does include a judge, court, and clerk.  This topic will be covered in a future article.

 

Explanation of Full Time Employee (FTE) versus 4 weekly shifts

Each week consists of 4 shifts and a Full-time Employee (FTE) is for each shift. Therefore, to have one full-time deputy for every shift would require 4 FTEs.

Coverage for each shift is negotiated as long as the total matches the contracted service level.  For example:  Nederland contracts for full coverage during the daytime shifts and half coverage for the nighttime shifts for a total of 3 FTEs.

 

Service Cost Breakdown for 2026

The services provided by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in 2026 prices and contracted FTEs for cities are:

Code Position FTE Cost Lyons Nederland Superior
RC1 Deputy I $168,664 2.00 / $337,327 3.00 / $505,991 11.00 / $1,855,300
RC1 Deputy I (detective) $178,538 0.50 / $89,269 0.50 / $89,269 2.00 / $357,077
RC2 Deputy II SGT (1) $234,835 1.00 / $234,835 1.00 / $234,835 1.00 / $234,835
AC1 Animal Control $131,868 0.20 / $26,374 0.20 / $26,374 0.70 / $92,307
LE2 Law Enforcement Tech $102,946 – – 1.00 / $102,946 
Overtime 3.70 / $29,025 4.70 / $36,869 14.70 / $115,315
Investigative Technology $15,000 – $47,775
Indirect Costs $38,291 $38,291 $38,291
TOTAL $770,121 $931,629 $2,843,846

See source below: Boulder County Sheriff’s Office → 2026 Contracts

  • Internal costs such as employee benefits, fleet maintenance, and administrative tasks are included in these costs.
  • These rates are expected to increase 4% to 6% annually.
  • Special events, such as parades and concerts, would continue as they do today with each event contracting for services directly with the sheriff independent of the City of Niwot.
  • Not included in the BCSO contract is the cost of the dispatch center which Boulder County pays for 60% of and the remaining 40% is split by the contracting cities.  The estimate for a City of Niwot based on 2026 call volume is $32,000.

1 – Sergeant FTE is not fractionizable, must be in increments of 1.00

 

What service does unincorporated Niwot currently have?

It is not easy to make an accurate comparison between the current service provided to unincorporated Niwot and how that would be replaced by contracted services to a City of Niwot.  Currently, unincorporated Boulder county is divided into districts:

Unincorporated Niwot is within District #4 in the Northeast portion of Boulder County. To complicate matters, the region that the Sheriff’s Office defines as  Niwot differs from the boundaries of the proposed City of Niwot:

 

Sheriff Johnson reports that currently one deputy each shift patrols District #4.  Since the Niwot region is a subset of District #4, time spent in unincorporated Niwot is a fraction of that scheduled time.  Of course, when a service call is made from within Niwot, deputies are routed in a timely manner, and other deputies throughout the county and districts are moved to backfill.

 

How much deputy service needed

When asked directly how much a City of Niwot would need to contract to receive a level of deputy service similar to that which unincorporated Niwot currently exists, Sheriff Johnson recommended a 25% FTE for all 4 shifts.

This roughly means that there would be a deputy in or near the City of Niwot about a quarter of the time, all day and night.  Given the above district and region information, this indicates that under Sheriff Johnson’s recommendation, the City of Niwot would be receiving MORE deputy coverage than unincorporated Niwot is currently experiencing.

Under this recommendation, just deputy service would require 1.00 FTE and cost: $168,664

 

A Deputy Detective is required

As mentioned above, each service contract requires detective service.  Both Lyons and Nederland contract for 0.50 FTE, the City of Niwot could opt for more or less than that, but using the same level of service as those two cities, cost would be: $89,269

 

Animal Control

Sheriff Johnson reports that if a city opted to not contract for animal control, all related calls would be routed to whomever the City of Niwot selects to be responsible for them.  The city would then have to contract with another provider directly or handle calls themselves.  Johnson said that Nederland tried this and regretted their decision and now uses Animal Control through the sheriff.

Using the same 0.20 FTE for Animal Control that Lyons & Nederland contract for, cost would be: $26,374 

 

City of Niwot costs for minimal sheriff services

Assuming just these minimal services, the total cost for a City of Niwot would be:

Code Position FTE 2026 20271 20291
RC1 Deputy I 1.00 $168,664 $177,097 $185,952
RC1 Deputy I (detective) 0.50 $89,269 $93,732 $98,419
AC1 Animal Control 0.20 $26,374 $27,693 $29,077
Overtime 2 ?? ?? ??
Investigative Technology 2 ?? ?? ??
Indirect Costs 3 $38,291 $38,291 $38,291
Total: $322,598 $336,813 $351,737

1 – Assuming annual increase of 5%, which is the mid-point of Sheriff Johnson’s estimation of 4-6%. 

2 – Due to uncertainty, these values are omitted.  Therefore the total cost will be higher than listed above

3 – Assuming same indirect costs as Lyons, Nederland, & Superior, with no annual increase

 

Proposed pro forma budget

The Incorporation Committee has stated that its budget numbers contract for 2.00 FTE deputies using a “blended formula” derived during conversations with Sheriff Johnson. From above the committee’s 2029 budget numbers for are:

  • January 22 community meeting: $468,000 with an annual increase of 4%
  • February 18 budget update: $450,000 with an annual increase of 4%

Both of these budget values are greater than the projected cost for basic service from the table above. It remains unclear what “blended” means and how the FTEs differ.

Notes:

  • Basic projected service in the table is for 1.00 FTE deputy plus other services, whereas the Incorporation Committee states it’s budgeting for 2.00 FTE, but does not make clear how detective, animal control, overtime, and indirect costs are covered.
  • The Incorporation Committee budgets for 4% annual increase, whereas, Sheriff Johnson says 4 – 6% should be expected.  Superior had a 5.17% increase from 2025 to 2026.
  • Basic projected service in the table does not include overtime nor dispatch center, both of which will have a cost.
  • The January 22 community forum described services as: “a full-time deputy assigned to Niwot.” This statement is inaccurate because a dedicated deputy would require 1.00 FTE for each of the 4 weekly shifts, which totals to 4.00 FTEs. 
  • The updated February 18 budget describes services as: “approximately two full-time equivalent (2.0 FTE) deputies.”  But as mentioned in the first item of this list, detective, animal control, overtime, and indirect costs are not fully explained. Further, it needs to be clarified that 2.0 FTEs translates to a deputy being in or near Niwot only half of the time.
  • The city of Lyons is comparable to Niwot in many ways.  Their annual budget for sheriff’s service is almost 70% higher than budgeted for by the Incorporation Committee.  Fair comparison or not, this discrepancy will need to be explained.

 

How to reconcile these differences

The Incorporation Committee is hosting the first of several workshops on Friday, February 27, 9:30 a.m., at Niwot Hall.  This first workshop is titled: “Budget & Financial Review.”

At that meeting, an NCA representative will ask for a reconciliation of the contracted sheriff services budget. 

 

Want to dive deeper?

Today, all sheriff services to unincorporated Niwot are provided by the county and paid for by existing property taxes.

The challenge for a City of Niwot would be to find the right balance of services because there are no rebates for unused services and, as discussed above, there would be additional costs for “overtime/out-of-the-ordinary work” for services rendered above what has been contracted for.

Here is a breakdown of the Boulder County Sheriff calls for District #4 and the Niwot region within that district for the past few years.

Year District #4 Calls Niwot Calls
2025 Jan – Oct 8,090 1,282
2024 8,884 1,496
2023 8,790 1,283
2022 8,193 1,158

Source: BCSO Niwot Incorporation Estimated Data spreadsheet

 

Sources and Links