Denver City Council voted on Monday against repurposing $4 million in police and public safety money toward the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, a police alternative that sends paramedics and mental health staff to people in nonviolent crises. The City Council also passed additional money for transit safety.
Two of the budget amendments adding money to STAR failed nine to four, and Councilmember Parady pulled a third proposal before it came to a vote. Councilmembers Parady, Stacie Gilmore, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, and Shontel Lewis voted in favor of the plan, while the rest of the Council successfully voted it down.
Parady, who sponsored all three amendments, cited STAR's success as the reason behind the approach.
"Given the program's runaway success, it merits a much larger increase in the budget," she said. "I am not up here with a protest slogan, I'm up here proposing that we look at what works in this city to make people safer," she said.
The failed amendments would have had big implications for the Department of Safety and the Denver Police Department.
One amendment involving $1 million would have eliminated the Department of Safety's Street Engagement Team (SET), a six-person unit that sends unarmed safety officials to calls for things like trespassing, camping, and littering. A second amendment would have taken around $2.7 million from the police budget, reducing the 2024 officer recruiting classes from three to one. The third amendment -- which didn't make it to a vote -- would have taken more than $300,000 from the Department of Safety's new AID Center, a new resource center across from the city jail that provides housing, employment, and other support services.
Parady said that she saw STAR and SET doing similar work, but that STAR has been more successful at getting people help and shelter. While city leaders have universally praised STAR, people experiencing homelessness and advocates have said that SET staff are unhelpful and have raised alarm about treatment by SET.
Councilmembers questioned whether or not SET provides duplicate services to STAR. Across the board, the Council supported expanding STAR in theory but expressed concerns about the program's ability to make use of an additional $4 million in 2024 on short notice. STAR's original budget for 2024 is $6.2 million.
Councilmember Chris Hinds, who voted no on the amendments, said that he wants to give the AID Center, which opened in March, more time to measure effectiveness before pulling funding. Councilmembers Kevin Flynn and Amanda Sawyer spoke against cutting police recruiting and said their constituents have asked for more police officers.
"With the uptick in crime that we have seen and the reduction in officers that we have seen since 2020, crime is the number one concern from my residents," Sawyer said.
Denver's transit safety program for schools will get an additional $450,000 in the 2024 budget.
The money will come from a fund for bridge maintenance and emergency repairs, and go towards the city's Safe Routes for Schools program. Last week, Council unanimously passed another amendment taking $550,000 from tunnel repairs for other traffic safety measures.
Councilmember Darrell Watson, who co-sponsored the amendment with Councilmember Flor Alvidrez, said that the city will find capital funds elsewhere in the budget to fund necessary bridge repairs. The amendment passed unanimously.
"As a mom and as someone who lives in an area that has terrible city infrastructure, missing sidewalks, and a highway and train tracks and all of the things that lead to traffic deaths, as well as regular city streets that are actually considered state highways, that create our high injury network, this is extremely important to me," Alvidrez said.
City Council voted down two amendments related to youth violence and universal basic income, and repealed a plan that would have increased funding for Denver Health.
Council voted seven to six against Alvidrez's amendment that would have repurposed $800,000 for photo traffic enforcement toward youth violence prevention programs. Councilmembers Hinds, Diana Romero Campbell, Sawyer, Amanda Sandoval, Jamie Torres, Watson, and Flynn voted against the plan.
Councilmembers in favor cited a rise in youth violence, pointing to the shooting at East High School earlier this year.
Those in opposition supported automatic enforcement as a way to avoid police bias and prevent speeding. City staff added that tickets from traffic enforcement create revenue for the city, which means the amendment could account for more than just the $800,000 in question. Police Chief Ron Thomas said the move could lead to layoffs.
"While I have concerns about expanding a surveillance state, it has been a priority for me to see a decrease in interactions in nonviolent safety concerns with armed police officers," said Lewis, who voted no.
Lewis herself pulled an amendment that would have taken money from a number of sources to add $1 million in additional funding for Denver's Universal Basic Income pilot program. Lewis said some of the funding sources overlapped with the recently added rental assistance money, which she wanted to prioritize. At the urging of Council, Johnston previously added $2 million to continue the cash assistance program into next year.
Council also unanimously withdrew an amendment passed last week that would have taken money from the Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) to add $1.8 million for Denver Health, which has faced multi-million dollar deficits in recent years. That move would have cut city funding for mobile behavioral health vans, with services including syringe access programs, Naloxone, and fentanyl test strips.
"Understanding more clearly the crucial harm reduction services that are funded by that $1.8 million... and after extensive discussions with the department, with Denver Health, with the Mayor's office, with the Department of Finance, I'm withdrawing that amendment," said Parady, who co-sponsored the original amendment with Lewis. "I'm happy to share that alternate sources of funding have been identified at an equal or greater funding level to help meet this crucial need."
As budget season winds down, Johnston has until Friday to veto any amendments passed by Council.
Council passed a total of $14.5 million in budget amendments, compared to just $1 million in the previous two years. Johnston has already voiced his support for the $13.5 million in rental assistance Council also passed on Monday.
Council can override any potential vetoes with nine votes, before voting to pass a final budget on Monday.
