Updated 5:39 p.m.
A dozen executives for the Denver city government could get raises after a three-year wait. Mayor Mike Johnston’s office has proposed pay bumps for some of the city’s top-ranked employees.
“We've conducted a market study on what the market determines is the correct pay for those positions, and we're going to bring it before council to get those 12 employees the raise that they're entitled to,” mayoral spokesperson Jon Ewing told Denverite.
Unlike other city employees, these 12 department leaders don’t get regular raises. Instead, their pay changes have to be approved by Denver City Council.
The proposed increases range between 4 percent and 44 percent.
Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington would have the highest salary among the group, with a proposed raise to $406,511. All 12 cabinet members would make over $176,800.
The proposed raises come as Denver faces turbulent financial times. The city is predicting a budget freeze for 2026 and the coming years, due in part to weak sales tax revenues and economic uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s trade wars.
Ewing said the city will be able to afford these raises because it has numerous vacant positions within the mayor's office that will not be filled, freeing up wages that can be distributed to other positions.
Denver City Council will discuss the proposal at its Finance & Governance committee on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Mayor’s office is making another salary-related request. The office is asking for a $7.2 million appropriation to its budget, but the change is mostly procedural, Ewing said. Currently, about 50 employees work for the mayor’s office but are paid from other department’s budgets. With the change, their salaries would instead be paid by the mayor’s office budget.
Denverite editor Andrew Kenney contributed to this article.
