Monday, April 27, 2026, 1:30 p.m. (Denver time), City & County Building, Council Committee Room, Room 391 1437 Bannock Street
Committee: Budget and Policy Committee
This Budget and Policy Committee meeting gave council members eight minutes each to explain their new budget policies and funding proposals for the 2027 budget cycle. Presentations covered restoring basic city services (DMV, street paving), community safety funding (crime lab, sheriffs' overtime, a community-led safety grant pilot), neighborhood planning initiatives, parks and infrastructure staffing, traffic studies, homelessness and foreclosure prevention, climate education, and an AI policy task force. Members were urged to make requests as specific as possible before a May 14 workshop where proposals will be scored and voted on. Staff committed to sending out a first pass of similar/grouped items and to having scoring materials ready by about May 5-6.
0:08 Welcome back to this biweekly
0:09 meeting of the Budget and
0:09 Policy Committee of Denver
0:15 City Council. As for the
0:16 discussion the Budget and
0:22 Policy Committee starts now,
0:32 chilly spring morning today is
0:34 share of the budget and
0:36 policy. We have a great agenda
0:37 front of today. So before we
0:40 get started, that the do
0:41 introductions and then we can
0:41 get started. Start on the
0:45 right. Well, PRESIDENT Kevin
0:49 Flynn, southwest numbers
0:49 district to kde Taurus was
0:53 temperatures know the I
0:55 everybody said they can solve
0:56 when you're council members at
0:57 large, but does like district
1:00 7 Sarah Party or large Darrell
1:03 Watson, Fine District 9 Diana
1:06 southeast Denver district 4.
1:11 All right. Pass it over
1:12 sitting at the head of the
1:13 table Loop Homicide, a senior
1:15 policy analyst for Denver City
1:17 Council. I'll run through the
1:18 couple sides. Real quick.
1:23 We're here to talk about
1:24 councils and new budget policy
1:28 and proposals for a work
1:29 Here's City council's
1:31 commitment to equity and
1:34 inclusion. I wanted to go over
1:36 today's expectations and
1:38 assumptions this is for
1:40 councilmembers to briefly
1:41 explain on their newly
1:44 proposed budget policies and
1:45 council member will have the
1:45 funding proposals. Each
1:49 same amount of time 8 minutes
1:50 to use. However they want
1:52 members can present one or 2
1:53 that other members might not
1:56 have heard of work and try to
1:58 took up all the ones that
2:00 they've submitted. This is an
2:02 opportunity to explain the new
2:03 proposal says you're not
2:05 necessarily making a pitch.
2:07 We'll save that for the MAY.
2:10 14 workshop. Just to be
2:11 respectful of time. All asset
2:15 other council members hold up
2:16 on questions until either the
2:16 end or offline. If we don't
2:20 have enough time and then this
2:22 is not we're not talking about
2:23 micro district. Specific
2:26 policies are proposals to Ted
2:27 today. So with that, these are
2:31 the 2027 half of the 2027
2:32 budget goals. I won't go ahead
2:35 and read through those. But
2:38 then with the exception of the
2:39 PRESIDENT Going last, this is
2:40 just order by my favorite. I'm
2:45 just kidding. By district's by
2:45 the district's be item. I
2:49 at-large council members, but
2:51 this is just just by district.
2:54 So a little known facts become
3:00 sort because we put the strict
3:05 on the district nobody can
3:09 start alright council present
3:09 I'll be keeping the timer. And
3:11 I'll just kind found out when
3:16 8 minutes are up. Thank Alex
3:17 for reminder, Luke sent out on
3:20 Friday at 2.23, the Excel
3:21 Docks a I'm a visual person. I
3:25 have to agree if you want to
3:27 pull that up, I believe the
3:29 first one are the ones. The
3:30 first Excel Dock is the one
3:30 that we wanted to keep from
3:31 last year. The second tower
3:35 blocks is the new ones. All
3:36 right. So Councilmember Flynn
3:40 take it away need a minute.
3:43 Some maybe a song and brief
3:47 presentation Item. And that
3:51 is. And we added restoring
3:53 basic services because after
3:57 the cuts that we have to take
3:58 the very difficult for a lot
4:00 of folks in the album,
4:01 neighborhoods in city and
4:04 large. Need to look at
4:06 restoring basic services,
4:06 improving delivery of
4:09 Essential City services.
4:09 Restore trust the taxpayer
4:11 dollars are stored
4:16 effectively. So item is to the
4:16 extent that estimated revenues
4:20 will allow. We store staffing
4:22 to basic services starting
4:24 with such agencies as the dmv,
4:30 generate revenue. Parking
4:31 ticket magistrates, mitigates
4:34 revenue, if you will, because
4:34 a neighborhood inspection
4:37 Department of Finance so that
4:38 they can mail property tax
4:41 bills on request. Restore the
4:42 street paving program. I don't
4:43 know if all of you look at
4:44 your the neighborhoods, which
4:46 ones are getting Richard
4:47 getting repaved this year.
4:51 There are not many. Were many
4:53 last and this is a penny wise
4:55 and pound foolish policy that
4:58 could result in a need for
4:58 more heavy reconstruction
5:01 streets. If we let them go for
5:06 will straight the need for
5:06 too So the only thing I'll
5:07 this is the bitter Valley,
5:09 Denver Motor vehicle office.
5:12 Has been closed. Courts now
5:15 because of an unforeseen issue
5:16 with construction where found
5:19 asbestos. Remember during some
5:20 shopping it was closed for 2
5:22 weeks of MARCH, not just one
5:24 rolling week for 2 weeks
5:25 because of other circumstances
5:27 elsewhere in the city. And
5:29 we're the ones that took hit
5:32 so we can complain as much as
5:33 we want our field complaints
5:39 from constituents matter.
5:39 Spider tattoo not. But if we
5:40 don't give a place to go get
5:43 their tax. We have no
5:44 complaints. So we've got to
5:45 find a way to keep these
5:47 places open. There's tens of
5:47 millions of dollars are coming
5:48 from dmv, for instance, every
5:52 year. So to the extent that
5:55 estimated revenues will not
5:55 asking for to take money from
6:00 Just let's take a look at
6:00 fund balance anything else.
6:01 estimated revenues MAY be
6:05 starting tomorrow. Restricted
6:06 space And that's MADAM
6:10 Present, my item, thank you.
6:15 Next step we have COUNCILMAN.
6:20 Thank you. I have a 7, I think
6:27 so. Start with for him. A
6:28 start and to the goal,
6:29 increase community safety. And
6:33 I've got to requests in here.
6:37 One is to support the
6:37 community led safety Grant
6:41 pilot, which will see its
6:43 first year of grant
6:45 distribution and likely in
6:47 2027. If you remember, this
6:48 was an amendment that we added
6:51 to use 3 million dollars from
6:55 the Broncos to put that word
6:57 this. A community proposal
6:57 called the Community led
7:00 Safety Grant program. So it's
7:01 to get out that 3 million in 2
7:05 local nonprofits and really
7:10 try to address some of the the
7:11 best sentence and heavily on
7:14 addressed issues regarding
7:15 particularly youth involvement
7:19 with the criminal justice
7:20 system. So that will likely
7:20 see the distribution of those
7:23 funds in 2027. So we're
7:25 looking for a commitment to
7:27 find a matching 3 million for
7:31 2020 to keep that going my
7:33 next one just a expansion
7:41 request. That I don't think I
7:42 need to share too much about
7:46 that. One white under empower
7:48 communities goal. I've got 4
7:53 a robust licensing and
7:53 items. One, is truly build out
7:56 rezoning notification system
7:56 by neighborhood Cashman that
8:00 they've been requesting this
8:01 for. You're over here it was
8:04 opened up. It's still a little
8:06 cumbersome clunky and you do
8:09 it by neighborhood system. So
8:10 that is just a tech services
8:13 piece The next one is maintain
8:17 funding to funding for
8:18 participatory budgeting. We
8:20 need to see those things
8:23 continue to follow the npi
8:26 process. Speaking of Npi, I
8:28 would like the administration think about what it would
8:31 take to realign funding to
8:32 complete all of our MPs by
8:36 2030, we need to be able to
8:38 get past this particular
8:42 hurdle because it keeps coming
8:43 with barriers. And I think Sir
8:45 Showalter said once these
8:46 upcoming or through, there's
8:48 only about 5 more to do. That
8:51 would be great to be able to
8:53 just get those completed a
8:57 short period of time. And then
9:01 the under this school is the
9:02 request to not can cut
9:04 immigrant legal services fund
9:08 allocation in 2027. There was
9:10 interest in doing that for
9:13 budget savings. They get
9:15 $750,000 from the city to only
9:16 funding that goes into legal
9:18 services fund and it is needed
9:22 now more than ever. The last
9:26 2, 1, is under our
9:27 infrastructure goal COUNCILMAN
9:27 Of the mentioned that you have
9:30 a similar goal it well, they
9:34 don't have a particular
9:36 proposal. I want to work with
9:37 Dottie. And Amy Ford and I
9:38 have talked about this. They
9:40 have interest as well. We need
9:41 to create a long-term funding
9:45 plan for bridge repair. And
9:45 figure out what that is and
9:47 how we actually get cut back
9:49 up. We have entirely too many
9:53 bridges that are failing and
9:53 the difference between good
9:57 failing is a line. The that is
10:01 going to take, I think 7
10:01 innovation on our side. I
10:03 don't know if it's like a
10:05 small bond every other year or
10:07 something like that. Just for
10:08 bridges. But we really do need
10:11 to be able to those up not be
10:19 waiting citywide Gio bond
10:22 opportunity. And then the last
10:25 to begin the process in 2027.
10:26 To reauthorize healthy food
10:30 for Denver, Kid Sales tax and
10:32 consider expanding the scope
10:34 of it. So it reds out it stops
10:38 collecting in 2028 2029. Is
10:41 the last year to distribute
10:43 funds. So the sunset is coming
10:44 up and I think it would be
10:49 good timing for us to cue the
10:50 reauthorization process
10:52 working with the coalition and
10:53 with community to put that on
11:00 the ballot in 2027. That's
11:03 thing I forgot to mention
11:05 colleagues if you see
11:06 overlapping, have one that's
11:10 over electing with Torres. If
11:12 we can work together those
11:13 offices so that we can
11:14 consolidate those, we decided
11:15 not to do that right now
11:15 because we felt like
11:17 everyone's place needed to be
11:18 heard. But we really want to
11:27 do that for the 14th. So.
11:30 Protect America. Thank the
11:31 first when I have, let's see
11:36 if got 6 total policy budget
11:37 proposals. But the first
11:38 policy proposal is to increase
11:42 the number say which, yes,
11:46 it's an And so that is to
11:46 increase the number of
11:47 neighborhood plans across
11:51 Denver. Milan, which was a
11:51 little different, but very
11:52 similar for the next budget
11:56 cycle. We know that we've been
11:58 talking about this. It
12:00 multiple times to strengthen
12:01 our communities, our
12:02 neighborhoods. There are 7
12:03 areas, our 7 more plants that
12:07 are in the queue. 2 of them
12:08 are in southeast Denver and I
12:11 can stop the rest of them for
12:13 you. But what we're finding is
12:15 that without any sort of
12:17 guidance is coming up, it's
12:19 reoccurring. It's happening
12:20 more and more for things that
12:22 are coming through in
12:23 southeast Denver. And I think
12:26 when we also hear things
12:27 through committee, it's been a
12:29 reoccurring theme. I like the
12:33 idea by So I love to work with
12:37 you on that one. The second
12:38 one is within basic city
12:43 services so this is to restore
12:44 previously eliminated fte to
12:44 the da d Safety Engagement
12:47 team. And the dog safety
12:51 engagement team are the ones
12:52 are the project manager
12:53 engineers, the people who help
12:53 us with the planning design
12:57 construction. Management for
13:00 our project needs. And
13:01 currently there's like 2 or 3
13:05 for the entire city. These are
13:09 our key contacts from the
13:10 council office to nowhere that
13:12 it projects are they respond
13:17 to all of our, you updates in
13:17 needs. And so I think that
13:22 these liaisons. We should just
13:23 increase the number that are
13:26 responding to the 13 council
13:28 offices and then that way we
13:28 can better track projects
13:33 across the city. And also look
13:34 at our future needs. So we're
13:38 constantly just doing what is,
13:40 you know what, what is in the
13:41 queue. We're looking at the
13:41 present, but we just don't
13:43 have I don't think they have
13:44 enough bandwidth to think
13:45 future. And also, I think that
13:47 packs like future bonds that
13:51 we would looking towards.
13:53 Another one within basic city
13:56 services is Denver parks They
13:58 had a significant cut for
14:04 their fte this would be for.
14:06 Again, those key contacts and
14:09 we have and that we hear a lot
14:10 friend. I that I hear a lot
14:12 from constituents in District
14:14 4 for this senior planning and
14:16 some of those senior roles. So
14:19 there was about an 18%
14:22 reduction in 2020 for 2026.
14:23 How that's impacted, I think
14:26 are the planners. As it was
14:27 mentioned before, we have a
14:29 lot of deferred maintenance.
14:30 We have a lot of, you know,
14:33 parks and trails and rec
14:37 centers. I sat on the Bond
14:37 committee with Councilmember
14:40 Luis and we heard multiple
14:41 presentations about the
14:43 deterioration that is
14:45 happening and within the
14:46 entire parks and recs system.
14:48 And I think that this would
14:52 help us be able to forward and
14:53 again, think about future bond
14:56 projects. Think about how we
14:59 are are just not just thinking
15:00 in the immediate that we're
15:03 thinking forward. The next one
15:03 that I have the basic city
15:07 services again, I propose that
15:11 we have an assessment of those
15:11 city services to demonstrate
15:13 the responsiveness to
15:14 residents needs and
15:15 accountability for how those
15:18 budget constraints affect city
15:19 services service quality. So
15:23 as opposed to like the first
15:25 one with an idea or the you
15:25 know, this week you will that
15:26 we're actually taking a city
15:30 wide perspective is to how we
15:31 are addressing what those
15:32 reductions have been having go
15:35 back and fill them. So again,
15:39 I hear often around the dmv
15:40 services we have, you know, I
15:42 have multiple library cause
15:43 the closing says renovations
15:48 that are going on. Of right
15:49 away. Inforcement. So I think
15:51 this would also help us be
15:52 broader. How we think our
15:56 districts are interconnected
15:57 as opposed to just district
16:01 specific issue. So go. Don't
16:02 know where I am on time, but
16:06 this one's in infrastructure.
16:06 Increased funding for citywide
16:12 traffic audits. So and again,
16:13 when we're speaking with our
16:15 daddy teams are when people
16:17 have issues, they are often
16:18 referred to what this needs to
16:21 be. A traffic study.
16:22 Requesting that we increased
16:22 the budget for traffic
16:25 consultants to consult more.
16:27 And I think consultants are in
16:29 house, but from our traffic
16:31 steady citywide. So we have a
16:33 very long queue of somebody
16:34 puts in for a traffic study.
16:38 They will wait. 9 months to a
16:40 year at this point for those
16:41 traffic studies that impacts
16:44 quality of life for speed
16:45 racing, high entry network
16:46 corridor, safe routes to