Last month, City Council asked Mayor Mike Johnston for more than $80 million in budget requests for 2024. He countered with $10.6 million.
In the weeks since, Council has pushed Johnston to add on an additional $14.5 million for rental assistance and transit safety.
Johnston has veto power over those plans, which Council passed unanimously and likely could have overridden with at least nine votes. But that won't be necessary next week when council will vote on the 2024 budget.
On Thursday, Johnston said he would support all three amendments that Councilmembers proposed to his budget.
It's a departure from recent years when Council played a small role in shaping the previous Mayor's budgets. Council overrode a mayoral veto to pass just $1 million for crosswalk improvements in 2022 and passed no amendments in 2021.
The largest amendment, $13.5 million for rental assistance, came after months of organizing from housing advocates and a back and forth between the Mayor and City Council. Johnston initially offered an additional $3 million for the fund.
A group of Councilmembers then passed a plan that would have taken the money from the city's financial reserves, a rare move that worried some budgeting officials and Councilmembers. To avoid dipping into reserves, the Mayor's office found $13.5 million elsewhere in the budget for a new plan that passed unanimously. The additional funds to next year's budget come as eviction filings hit record-levels.
The other $1 million repurposes money from a bridge repair fund towards transit safety efforts including the Safe Routes to School program. City officials said they would find the bridge repair money elsewhere in the budget.
"We are pleased to have found a way forward in adding over $18 million dollars to these critical program areas, particularly when it comes to rental assistance that will help keep people in their homes," said Council President Jamie Torres in a statement Thursday.
A number of other budget amendments failed, including one that would have taken money from the police and public safety budgets for the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, Denver's police alternative. Another would have taken money for red light cameras for youth violence programs, and one plan would have added funds to the Universal Basic Income pilot program.
Councilmembers also rolled back a plan to take money from a behavioral health and addiction program and give it to Denver Health, which is facing a multi-million dollar deficit. Johnston promised additional money for the hospital elsewhere in the budget.
City Council will vote on the entire 2024 budget on Monday.
