Mayor Tobler’s State of the City to focus on Boulder City finances

By Dylan Scott

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 | 3:25 p.m.

Boulder City Mayor Roger Tobler will give his fourth State of the City address at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Boulder Creek Golf Club. Among the topics on his mind are the opening of the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bypass Bridge and the city's tight finances.

In the speech, a copy of which Tobler provided to the Sun, Tobler will outline some of his ideas for keeping the pressure on state and federal officials to improve the traffic influx that Boulder City has faced since the bridge opened in October.

He plans to address the possibility of a Boulder City bypass -- and how that concept might fit into the larger Interstate 11 project connecting Las Vegas and Phoenix -- as well as the smaller measures that are being taken to mitigate the problem.

Tobler will also touch on Boulder City's ongoing budget strains, as traditional revenues have plummeted for the city in recent years. The failure of the Sol Bio project also left a $2.4 million hole in the city's budget, and the city has accumulated more than $95 million in debt in the last decade.

He will detail the steps city hall has taken to handle the situation and some of the idea it plans to implement in the coming months to cure the debt in the next 15 years. The focus is to "reduce expenses, increase revenue, eliminate debt.”

Tobler, who took office in 2007, told the Sun last month that he plans to run for re-election in June. City Clerk Lorene Krumm confirmed on Wednesday that Tobler had filed his official paperwork.