Monday, September 21, 2026, 9 a.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
0:02 bad to just we're doing.
0:49 We all budget hearings for
0:49 2027 budget. I'm Diana Romero,
0:51 Campbell, and I represent
0:54 Southeast Denver in District
0:55 4. So lets get started with
0:57 introductions and we have
0:57 members online. So I'm gonna
1:00 turn it over that. To them to
1:01 introduce themselves and then
1:05 we'll go around the room. Good
1:06 morning. Paul Kashmann Shout
1:18 Tendra District 6.
1:26 Councilmember Torres. Well, 18
1:27 minutes full. Welcome back in
1:31 critique. My staff.
1:33 Councilmember Torres is
1:35 online, but we'll come back
1:37 around room and can everyone
1:40 have And I will start to my
1:43 Good morning on a cold chief
1:46 financial officer chief
1:46 operating officer them. And
1:50 time to Amber just recurrence
1:51 morning do want some fine
1:52 district and a certified
1:55 Socialist District. 8, Jacques
1:56 Rogge, way to partly finance.
1:57 Justin thanks. Budget
2:02 management district my Number
2:08 one issue a city every policy
2:08 Kevin Flynn, Southwest, a
2:12 number of district, 2 it. That
2:13 is the key districts morning
2:20 said I can still large Times
2:23 Timbers Ian Lee to cover
2:25 generator staffed and great
2:29 we'll go back up to up the
2:29 sounds too good to have that
2:32 she has. She has She's a
2:34 around thank you for setting
2:38 up the challenge. Will have
2:40 that sent out to everyone has
2:42 an So first, I just want to
2:43 also doing thank you. Thank
2:46 you. To Vic Tim and the mayor
2:47 staff for sending this stuff.
2:48 Really appreciate all the work
2:51 and effort that went into and
2:52 preparing to stay. We have a
2:55 very busy week and we also
2:56 know that the mayor is running
2:56 just a little bit behind that.
2:59 He will join us in just a
3:03 minute. But before we do get
3:06 started, we we spent time in
3:11 our budget workshop and put a
3:12 budget, you know, priorities
3:14 of what we were most concerned
3:14 about and what we really
3:17 wanted to see in this budget.
3:18 And I think that there are
3:20 things that we do see
3:21 reflected in the probably also
3:22 will be questions where are
3:23 those things in the budget and
3:25 how are we going to maintain
3:29 them just for I think for the
3:30 viewing public to also know
3:32 that just a reminder, one of
3:33 our priorities was to increase
3:34 community safety. And there
3:36 are a number of things under
3:37 that that aren't just about.
3:41 Our safety department thinking
3:43 about how we keep our
3:44 neighborhoods and communities
3:48 through prevention. We also
3:49 have things in there that we
3:50 talked about empowering weeks
3:53 and there we will see
3:54 presented within the agencies
3:57 that come addressing housing
3:58 needs again, still such a
4:00 critical need that we have in
4:04 the city county of and in our
4:07 budget. Could morning in our
4:09 budget not only addressing
4:10 homelessness, but also
4:12 thinking about how we making
4:13 sure that families have
4:16 pathway for housing for coming
4:18 And then supporting workers
4:20 and businesses number of
4:21 things. And they're
4:24 prioritizing climate.
4:26 Response. We're just going
4:28 goals and improving campers,
4:29 infrastructure again, we have
4:30 lots of things that are
4:31 happening within our city and
4:35 we want to be responsive to
4:38 that. And finally, just
4:39 building healthy communities.
4:39 And I think this really gets
4:43 back to Department of Public
4:44 Health and environment
4:48 ensuring that we have, you are
4:51 where where are we on justice
4:52 thinking about how we are
4:54 caring for all of children and
4:58 families in and then what came
5:00 up a little bit nuanced and
5:01 different was also the reason
5:03 basic city services and so
5:04 within our presentations this
5:08 week, we can see all of the
5:12 agencies to also show within
5:13 the reductions that have
5:15 happened over last number of
5:17 years. Last couple of Where
5:19 are we with our basic services
5:22 and how we best our facing for
5:22 the residents of the city and
5:26 county of Denver. So again,
5:28 thank you. I will turn it over
5:29 to you, Thank you. MADAM
5:30 PRESIDENT, great to see you
5:31 all. Apologize and say that
5:34 was on trial drop-off. This
5:36 morning's about to be here and
5:38 ready to Very exciting to hear
5:40 from the commission from our
5:42 chief economist about the
5:43 state generally trying to say
5:46 to brief opening comments
5:47 first really grateful to
5:49 finance team and our
5:50 departments who worked so h#
5:50 o#
5:52 this budget. I think what
5:53 you'll see here is product of
5:56 several years focused work or
5:58 2 strategies. One making sure
5:59 that we can control costs with
6:00 discipline decisions to
6:03 support a core city services
6:04 and also making sure we can
6:05 make the right strategic
6:06 investments in places that
6:08 will grow revenue so that we
6:10 are both managing the budget
6:11 that we have been preparing
6:13 for the budget that we want
6:16 future. And I think you'll see
6:17 those strategy is playing out
6:18 successfully in multiple
6:21 places, including the hopeful
6:22 signs on recovery of sales
6:24 tax. There are other places in
6:25 which we state cuts pass
6:28 setting those But we do see
6:30 that the discipline of both
6:31 disposition to control costs.
6:32 Well, really focusing on
6:33 delivering high-quality core
6:35 services and all city agencies
6:36 and make investments will
6:37 drive growth, we think are
6:39 putting us on the right path
6:40 more to do. But as we see many
6:42 cities hitting the toughest
6:43 parts of budget cycle. Now he
6:45 didn't make hard decisions.
6:47 And the previous years we
6:48 think our responsibility is
6:49 put us in a better position
6:51 where we now are ready for
6:52 with core services intact. So
6:55 conversation with you all.
6:55 really excited to have that
6:56 Thank you for all the work
6:59 you've done on naming your
6:59 priority. So steeply influence
7:00 on decisions we made and
7:01 you'll see, I think in all
7:02 these department
7:05 presentations, their direct
7:06 lemon to the prairies and
7:07 you've named so forward strong
7:08 conversation about what looks
7:10 like to deliver high quality
7:11 that I'm going over to the
7:12 team. And thank you all so
7:21 much right. Good morning,
7:24 everyone. My name is Lisa
7:24 Martinez, Templeton and
7:26 welcome to the overview of the
7:27 2027 proposed budget. The
7:32 Department of Finance. So
7:32 walking through the agenda
7:34 quickly, I will provide the
7:35 economic update followed by
7:37 Justin who will come up and
7:38 provide the revenue update in
7:40 the proposed 2027 operating
7:41 budget. Then Jackson will come
7:44 up and provide the proposed
7:45 2027 capital budget followed
7:46 by Justin again, to give some
7:48 next steps and discussion.
7:49 Script let's go ahead and get
7:53 going. Denver's economy shows
7:55 signs of stabilizing, right?
7:56 We've got lots of optimistic
7:57 signals here. Job gains have
8:00 kept pace with the workforce.
8:01 We saw a strong start or 2026.
8:05 Sales tax revenue. We've seen
8:06 robust gains in business
8:08 capital spending for equipment
8:09 and infrastructure. And then
8:11 the completion of some city
8:12 strategic investments are
8:13 starting to show measurable
8:14 benefits and by measurable
8:15 benefits. I mean, we actually
8:18 tracked that around these and
8:19 they've been demonstrating
8:19 increasing visitation as well
8:21 as consumer spending. So
8:25 first, the labor market job
8:26 gains have kept pace with the
8:27 workforce on the grass left
8:30 there. You've got Denver
8:30 County Labor Force, which is
8:33 the dark blue line on the top
8:34 and the actual number
8:35 employed, which is the orange
8:38 line on the bottom to the
8:39 right is our actual
8:41 unemployment rate for Denver,
8:43 which came in AUGUST of 4.7%
8:44 You'll see there was an uptick
8:46 in our unemployment rate as
8:47 well as a decrease in our
8:49 labor force in number of
8:51 employed this last month. I do
8:54 want to point do seem a bit
8:56 off trend when we're looking
8:56 at this data to show you are
8:57 also closely tracking the
8:59 state's data as well. And so
9:00 we look at this lots of
9:01 different ways. We look at our
9:03 labor force compared to the
9:04 states and then we also to see
9:05 if there are trends diverging
9:08 from the state. We also go
9:09 ahead, only pull Denver's got
9:10 and look at the rest of the
9:11 state to see perhaps our
9:12 daughter was sort of driving
9:15 that trend with the state. And
9:17 what we saw despite numbers
9:17 that are not being in there,
9:19 we still were trending with
9:20 the state. The reason I
9:23 mention this, this is that
9:24 they also showed a big
9:26 decrease in their labor force
9:27 for AUGUST. And at 65.0, 3%
9:30 had the lowest participation
9:30 rate on record, actually going
9:34 back to 1976. And the thing
9:37 about this particular point is
9:38 when you go in and you look at
9:41 the state level, which is as
9:41 granular as we can get for
9:44 initial unemployment claims.
9:45 There has been no
9:47 corresponding spike there
9:47 actually wish, still showing
9:51 some slight decreases. So
9:54 data reports come out.
9:54 again, these are the initial
9:55 Expectations are for when they
9:56 revise these. Both of these
9:59 numbers will improve and get
10:00 us back on track back on track
10:01 to that improving trend. We've
10:03 been seeing the prior few
10:06 months overall despite this
10:07 still showing positive
10:08 year-over-year non-farm job
10:09 growth at 0.2%, which is the
10:14 same as the state. There are
10:15 some reports that firms report
10:16 that labor availability is
10:17 actually the top limiting
10:20 factor for growth, preventing
10:21 stronger labor demand from
10:23 translating into additional
10:25 job creation. So while
10:26 shortages of skilled workers
10:28 remain particularly acute
10:30 reports of hiring difficulties
10:31 broadened across occupations
10:32 and industries with summer
10:33 firms operating below their
10:36 optimal staffing levels.
10:37 Despite persistent labor
10:38 supply constraints and limited
10:40 employment growth, contacts
10:41 actually remained optimistic
10:42 about hiring and generally
10:43 expect employment levels to
10:44 increase slightly over the
10:49 next 6 months. Our sales tax
10:50 revenue has improved. So what
10:54 you're looking at here nominal
10:55 percent change from year
10:58 numbers monthly collections.
10:59 And I want to point out here
11:01 that sales tax revenues
11:02 actually outpaced inflation
11:03 for 5 out of the last 7
11:05 months. And that means these
11:06 gains look like real spending
11:08 rather than just a pricey
11:08 effect, resulting from
11:11 inflation. Also wanted to
11:17 point out that. This does the
11:18 staple, the terminated
11:19 Stapleton tif, which was
11:21 flowing through the 1st half
11:22 of 26. This is flowing into
11:23 our general fund which made
11:25 things look a little Waukee
11:27 there. If you were to back
11:28 that it was through this, the
11:32 2nd half of 25 in the 1st 26
11:32 to know and do forecasting. We
11:34 had to do some adjustments for
11:35 that to account for it.
11:37 Showing up in one spot and not
11:40 the other and actually in 2025
11:42 our core sales tax growth
11:44 actually only totaled 1.9% If
11:45 you were to back out that 2nd,
11:45 half of the Stapleton flowing
11:47 through I do want to remind
11:50 you all that our forecast
11:51 actually did anticipate the
11:52 stronger growth through
11:53 quarter 3, knowing that we
11:53 weren't going to have
11:55 Stapleton funds in there. But
11:56 our expectations for the
11:59 remaining quarter, 4 actually
12:00 for a bit of a consumer
12:02 slowdown and fairly tepid
12:02 holiday season. So you
12:04 mentioned the so that as you
12:08 with the reports that we
12:09 slowdown in consumer spending
12:11 on that paid its accounted
12:15 for. In our forecast. Some
12:17 consumer spending has remained
12:19 resilient. What you're looking
12:21 at here, the solid lines are
12:24 the nominal monthly actuals by
12:25 industry and the associated
12:26 dotted lines are showing their
12:30 trend. No, the competition is
12:31 drives our sales tax growth
12:34 has been changing the light
12:35 blue and yellow lines that you
12:37 see there on the bottom, which
12:38 are motor vehicle and home
12:40 improvement respectively.
12:41 Actually used to be our number
12:43 2 number 3 contributors to
12:45 sales tax. However, in the
12:45 last few years, they've
12:46 dropped to number 4 and number
12:49 5, as you can see that. Food
12:50 services and drinking places,
12:51 which is that dark blue line
12:52 is still our number one
12:55 contributor. But after nearly
12:58 flat growth in 2025, is
12:58 actually shown improvement.
12:59 That's foreign to 26 and is
13:00 currently up 3% year to date
13:02 from last year. I'd like to
13:03 point out, however, the large
13:05 growth that we see in the it
13:06 professional services, which
13:09 is that orange line and that's
13:09 really capturing some business
13:11 field, capital expenditures
13:12 for infrastructure. You can
13:13 see that you're today growth
13:17 of the 11.7% and then other
13:18 retailers, which is a purple
13:22 line and majority. So if you
13:23 think like online sales that's
13:24 really the bulk of that
13:25 category. It's also shown
13:27 remarkable growth in the past
13:29 year and are contributing to
13:30 overall positive sales tax
13:32 growth. And those are really
13:33 moved I do believe it was a
13:34 even in the top 5 just a few
13:40 years ago. So also so
13:41 downtown, the recovery gains.
13:43 We've been tracking data
13:44 around the city strategic
13:45 investments. Example here is
13:48 on the 16th street. This is a
13:50 long haul process, right? This
13:50 is I was going to continue to
13:53 be tracking this for on end.
13:54 And as you can see from the
13:55 data here, we are showing
13:56 promising growth and recovery
14:00 in both sales tax collection
14:01 as well as foot traffic.
14:02 Visitations 16th Street
14:03 following the major
14:03 construction improvements that
14:09 took now the hard data for the
14:09 first 8 months of the year
14:12 show surprising resilience on
14:14 a macro Major economies have
14:14 been growing about as well as
14:16 they could. And that's despite
14:18 renewed fighting between U.S.
14:20 Iran and the prospect of a
14:21 more prolonged oil price
14:22 shock. However, you know,
14:25 economic risk do remain
14:26 consumer sentiment and