On Monday, City Council voted to pass more than $17 million in amendments to Denver's 2024 budget. The amendments include money for rental assistance, transit safety and Denver Health. An amendment to fund a new Office of Neighborhood Safety failed.
With six new Councilmembers and a new Mayor, the amendments represent a departure from recent years. In 2022, Council approved just one amendment -- to fund crosswalks -- while voting down dozens of amendments from former Coucilmember Candi CdeBaca that would have taken money from the police department toward a number of other city initiatives. In 2021, Council passed no amendments to the budget.
That 2022 amendment cost the city around $1.1 million. This year, Council is seeking more than $17 million in amendments. But just because Council passed the amendments does not mean they will necessarily make it into the budget. Mayor Mike Johnston has veto power, which Council can later override with nine votes. Council also has one more week to propose and vote on amendments. They must pass a final budget by Nov. 13.
In a win for advocates, Council passed an amendment nine to four adding nearly $15 million for rental assistance. In a rare move, the funding would come from the city's reserve funds.
Throughout the budgeting process, a number of nonprofits and housing advocates have been rallying for more rental assistance alongside Councilmembers Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis, Paul Kashmann and Stacie Gilmore, who brought the amendment as a group. They voted in favor, along with Councilmembers Flor Alvidrez, Chris Hinds, Amanda Sandoval and Jamie Torres. Councilmembers Kevin Flynn, Diana Romero Campbell, Amanda Sawyer and Darrell Watson voted no.
Supporters of the amendment emphasized that city efforts to eliminate unsheltered homelessness will be in vain if people are losing housing at higher rates.
"Seeing that this is an emergency, we have a state of emergency that has been declared, utilizing reserve funding is for that purpose," Gonzales-Gutierrez said. "It is intended for emergencies. We know housing is an emergency right now in our city."
More evictions were filed in the first eight months of this year than in the entirety of 2022. Meanwhile, both rental assistance programs affiliated with the city have closed their applications because they ran out of funding. Johnston has committed $15.6 million for rental assistance, which is more than city funding in previous years, but $9 million less overall due to the end of federal pandemic funds. One study shows the city would need $55 million annually to meet city needs.
"We just feel really grateful that the Council really listened to the community, listened to the people who are suffering out there, and now we really call on the Mayor to do the right thing," said Marilyn Winokur, co-chair of Coloradans for the Common Good, one of the groups advocating for rental assistance.
But Councilmembers who voted against the amendment said they worry about dipping into the city's reserve funds.
According to Budget Director Stephanie Adams, the amendment would take Denver's reserves from the typical 15% down to around 14%, a rare move for the city. Adams said that money is typically viewed as reserves in case the city does not meet its revenue projections in the coming year.
Recently, Denver has needed to dip into its reserves to respond to recessions and the pandemic, along with the migrant crisis. This fall, the city sheltered more migrants than any other point this year. Based on 2023, Adams said she thinks the city will need to use "a substantial amount" of contingency funds in 2024 to support Denver's migrant response.
A major hit to Denver's reserves could also affect the city's bond ratings, currently rated the highest possible for municipalities. If that rating drops, Denver would be hampered by higher interest rates on loans and lower returns on investments for city projects down the line.
In voting no, Flynn said he worried about the precedent the amendment might set. Watson questioned what might have to be cut elsewhere in the city budget to fund rental assistance, and Sawyer expressed concerns about softening sales tax revenue in the past three months.
Some Councilmembers who voted for the added rental assistance recognized concerns about dipping into reserve funds, but voted yes to pressure the Mayor's office to up its commitment by looking for other funding sources.
"This isn't how we do budgets. We don't just take from contingency and hope that things will suddenly find a path," Hinds said. "I hope that this vote helps the legislative and executive branch come together and work together and come up with, frankly, a better amendment a week from now."
Council unanimously passed an amendment that would add funds for transit safety.
The amendment would take $550,000 from a fund allocated to Speer Tunnel Safety Repairs toward Denver's Vision Zero fund, which focuses on reducing traffic deaths. Parady, Lewis, Watson and Hinds sponsored the amendment.
Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Gallardo said the state told the city it needs to spend around $5 million redoing the tunnel's fire suppression system, which is out of compliance. If the city does not complete that work, the state could close the tunnel. If the amendment goes forward, the city could choose to take funds from other DOTI projects to prioritize the tunnel repairs.
"Every time we ask for money, it needs to come from something else, and I believe the budget is probably pared down as far as it can get paired," Kashmann said before voting yes. "That said, I think this is one area that we need to up our game in."
Another amendment, transferring $1.8 million from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) to Denver Health, passed eight to five.
During its budget hearing, Denver Health CEO Donna Lynn pleaded with City Council and the Mayor's office for more funding to the safety net hospital, which treats a lot of homeless and uninsured patients. Costs have skyrocketed, while the city's contribution to caring for uninsured patients has stayed steady. The hospital ran a $32 million deficit in 2022.
After an initial $17 million request from Council, the Mayor's office added $3 million for the hospital. This amendment would add another $1.8 million, at the cost of some health services from DDPHE.
"Although behavioral health is an incredibly important need in our city, Denver Health is really the cornerstone of that," Parady said.
DDPHE Director Tristan Sanders said the reappropriation could lead to cutting city health programs. The specific $1.8 million currently funds staff for mobile behavioral health services, syringe access programs, Naloxone and fentanyl test strips. It's not clear whether the potential loss of that money would affect those programs specifically or other parts of the department's budget.
Councilmembers in opposition to the amendment voiced concern about the potential effects on programs like the mobile health vans, while only contributing a small portion to Denver Health's multi-million dollar financial troubles.
Parady and Lewis sponsored the amendment, and voted for it along with Alvidrez, Gilmore, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Romero Campbell, Sandoval and Torres. Flynn, Hinds, Kashmann, Sawyer and Watson voted against the amendment.
An amendment that would have used $500,000 of the Police Department's budget to create a new Office of Neighborhood Safety failed eight to five.
Lewis and Parady sponsored the amendment, and voted for it along with Gilmore, Alvidrez and Gonzales-Gutierrez. Flynn, Hinds, Kashmann, Romero Campbell, Sandoval, Sawyer, Torres and Watson voted no.
Councilmembers debated whether or not the city had concrete enough plans for a potential office to commit the funding. Politicians have discussed the idea since 2020. Last year the city committed $75,000 to study a potential office, but it has not taken other steps toward creating the office. Councilmembers across the board cited requests from constituents for both an Office of Neighborhood Safety and additional police staff.
In a letter to Councilmembers earlier this month, Johnston turned down an initial budget request for the office. "We are actively looking at options for how to structure our safety services across the city including the option to create an office of neighborhood safety," he said.
Councilmember Paul Kashmann warned about "putting the cart before the horse."
Councilmember Amanda Sawyer said she did not want to set a precedent for committing funds to projects that do not yet exist.
Gilmore suggested putting the money toward a special fund that would create a pilot program, giving the city time to measure a potential office's success.
"There's been a lot of interest for community efficacy, to reduce harm and to co-develop community driven solutions. And this is a direct request from community to solve that," Lewis said in her support for the program. "We're seeking to divert historically marginalized populations away from the legal system."
