Monday, September 21, 2026, 1 p.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
This Budget Hearings meeting featured a presentation from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) on its 2027 budget, led by director Karen. She described a largely flat budget that absorbed health benefit increases through cuts to contracts (including a roughly $300,000 reduction to the Solution Center contract), salary savings, and reorganization, and highlighted roughly half a million dollars identified to fully staff the medical examiner's office. Council members questioned staff on the STAR program's move to in-house clinicians, Healthy Food for Denver Kids fund balances, residential health and restaurant inspection capacity, food safety and psilocybin enforcement, the Denver Cares program within the Denver Health operating agreement, a discontinued needle pickup program, and an air quality monitoring funding reduction. Staff committed to follow up in writing on several items, with council questions due by September 23 ahead of an October budget workshop.
0:24 We really got from them. Good
0:25 afternoon, everyone. And this
0:27 is Monday. SEPTEMBER 24th. We
0:30 are at a 2027 budget hearings.
0:31 Might is there a lot and I'm
0:32 honored to serve all residents
0:33 of the fine district 9 this
0:34 afternoon. We have a
0:35 presentation from Denver
0:36 Department of Public and
0:38 environmental before they roll
0:39 into their budget hearing
0:40 presentation. Let's go around
0:41 the room with introductions on
0:41 the start of first in the
0:45 House on arrival. Think
0:46 distinguished gentleman to
0:50 write the one of them a cites
0:53 first perfect 10 in Beach
0:55 councilmember at large, just
0:59 like you district 7 that
1:01 inflamed Southwest numbers
1:01 district tip with the mayor's
1:02 office. Just insights.
1:05 Department of Finance Karen
1:07 Allen, director of the Denver
1:08 Department of Public Health
1:13 Environment Cheney ppg Binance
1:16 manager Gill, Deputy executive
1:18 John Kelly's district. Minutes
1:20 are to survive. Diana Romero,
1:21 Campbell. So number district
1:23 court, too, cultivating chief
1:25 financial officer, I know we
1:27 have councilmembers online out
1:30 route to councilmember Cashman
1:33 good afternoon. It is finally
1:33 afternoon, Paul Kashmann South
1:36 Denver District 6 it is
1:37 Councilmember Torres online.
1:40 Just one last one checked. She
1:40 is Jamie Torres was Denver
1:45 district. 3. Thank you,
1:46 Councilmember joining
1:47 virtually the presentation
1:48 today. As I stated 3 Denver
1:50 Department of Public Health
1:51 and Environment. Turn it over
1:52 to you to lead us into this
1:59 presentation. It's has staff
2:00 first time I can't. This is my
2:02 3rd one in front of you. And
2:03 the first time it only be for
2:06 like 2 months. And I think my
2:06 presentation was like 10
2:07 minutes long because I didn't
2:10 what I was in charge of but
2:12 per use. I have phone a
2:13 friend. So folks from all of
2:15 our various divisions in case
2:16 you want to get into the weeds
2:17 about anything. And I just
2:21 want to thank our This was
2:22 another kind of hard year
2:23 because even though was a flat
2:26 budget. We did have to absorb
2:28 some things. And I really love
2:30 the smart people in our
2:30 department helped piece
2:31 together like how we're going
2:33 to meet that goal and we're
2:35 not successful because we just
2:36 one person. It's like the team
2:36 that puts it all together. And
2:39 we just have a really, really
2:40 good, really smart team at the
2:41 department. I'm just very
2:49 grateful for all of them. You
2:51 all know Our mission is to
2:51 protect and improve and
2:52 promote the health and
2:54 environment of Denver. And we
2:58 do that by delivering core
2:58 public men mandated core
2:59 public health services and
3:01 legally required work. And
3:02 those would include the
3:04 medical examiner's office in
3:05 Vermont quality, which is air
3:06 water, Saddam hazardous waste
3:08 protection, the animal
3:10 Protection and Shelter
3:12 Services, Consumer Protection
3:12 Investigations, which includes
3:14 our restaurant inspections,
3:15 residential health
3:17 inspections, communicable
3:19 disease responding to anything
3:22 from measles to able us to
3:23 m-pox outbreaks, ensuring the
3:24 safety and health of all of
3:25 our Denver residents by
3:26 reducing public health and
3:27 environmental risks. So that's
3:29 our community health, which is
3:31 how do we help you? Not smoke.
3:33 Not drink too much. Eat
3:35 healthy and behavior health.
3:36 So that includes our roads to
3:37 recovery. Case management star
3:40 overdose prevention solution
3:42 Center and then obviously we
3:46 do all this work hopefully by
3:47 leveraging smartly all of our
3:49 resources and prioritizing
3:50 consistent manages of all of
3:55 contracts and funding. You are
3:58 familiar that we updated our
3:59 strategic plan last year. And
3:59 we also finally completed our
4:03 community health assessment.
4:06 And so what bubbled to our
4:07 strategic plan is through
4:07 community through surveys and
4:09 focus groups and our steering
4:11 committee as well as through
4:12 our partners and our
4:14 employees. Everything that
4:15 hasn't asked Rick by it that
4:16 he plan came up through the
4:18 community. Health assessment
4:19 and we're now working on the
4:21 community health improvement
4:22 plan. So where will detail
4:23 what our goals will be under
4:26 each of those specific
4:28 identified priorities. So, for
4:30 example, we are not
4:31 responsible for affordable
4:32 housing will work with all of
4:33 our partners because that was
4:36 identified as a key public
4:36 health concern through the
4:39 community. Health assessment.
4:40 We'll work with our partners
4:41 to say clean move that needle,
4:41 what kind of goals could be
4:44 set with you in partnership?
4:44 And obviously providing the
4:46 public health services and
4:49 example, maybe roads to
4:50 recovery and really worse,
4:51 focusing on strengthening our
4:54 workforce and how we keep our
4:58 employees engaged and valued
4:59 other people to want to work
4:59 and hopefully also encourage
5:02 in public health. It's a tough
5:03 time to be in public health,
5:04 as you all know. And we really
5:05 do want young people to be
5:07 excited about being in this
5:08 arena and doing this really
5:14 great work. Our budget
5:15 philosophy similar to 2026
5:17 because there's not a lot of
5:18 wiggle room protecting and
5:20 improving and making sure that
5:21 we're protecting and improving
5:22 public health and environment
5:24 quality delivering all of our
5:26 mandated in legally required
5:28 services, ensuring the safety
5:29 and health of our residents by
5:30 reducing environmental risks,
5:33 including mental and physical
5:34 health emergencies,
5:35 prioritizing efficient and
5:36 consistent management of all
5:37 of our contracts and services
5:38 and leveraging all of our
5:47 funding sources. Happy to say
5:48 that everything we do in
5:49 public health is spaced and
5:49 equity. Everything is about
5:51 social determinants of health.
5:52 How you live, how you work,
5:55 how you play your access to
5:55 health care, access to
5:59 education, your income level?
6:00 I think really really great
6:02 examples of programs in this
6:03 space, our roads to recovery
6:05 program the star program turn
6:07 response. Our public health
6:09 investigations, whether its
6:10 restaurants or residential,
6:12 the medical examiner's office
6:14 figuring out how and why
6:16 someone past recently our food
6:17 justice working lot of you are
6:19 at the justice on it and saw
6:20 all the excitement around that
6:25 work. This is our orrick
6:26 structure. It's a little bit
6:28 different than last year. We
6:29 did go through strategic
6:30 planning. We did go through
6:31 some but to downsizing. So we
6:34 did reorganize. So you'll see
6:35 different and reporting
6:35 things looking a little
6:38 structurally a little bit
6:39 differently because we
6:40 reorganized, I think some of
6:41 you had questions about it
6:42 looks like you reduced by a
6:43 lot over here and you gained a
6:45 lot over there. It's really
6:46 because we move one cost
6:49 center from one division to a
6:50 different division. So that's
6:51 some of the question you might
6:53 have might be related to how
6:54 we reorganized and how we have
6:59 to move cost centers.
7:00 Performance metrics does look
7:01 familiar because we're trying
7:02 to be consistent
7:02 year-over-year. So you can see
7:03 what growth looks like. How
7:06 changes are happening. A lot
7:07 of you ask a lot about
7:08 residential complaints. You
7:10 can see they're rising
7:13 year-over-year from last year
7:15 to this year. Already a 4%
7:17 increase. They still are
7:17 responding to 90% of
7:18 complaints within one business
7:21 day. So kudos to the team.
7:22 They're doing that If you are
7:26 folks in the workplace, you'll
7:26 see that the number of
7:28 vaccinations that we continue
7:29 to provide is increasing. As
7:30 we take on more of the public
7:36 health, nursing services.
7:38 Animal shelter continues to
7:40 see more visitors. Lot of them
7:41 are visitors. They get adopted
7:45 out and reminder that, you
7:46 know, the shelter is different
7:47 than a place that gets to
7:50 choose who they take in. I
7:51 like to call, you know that
7:52 the shelters like public
7:54 school, we take all the kids,
7:55 not just the special kids or
7:56 the kids are highly gifted and
7:57 talented. And so they deal
7:59 with a lot more issues than
8:00 other folks. Also, people come
8:03 by and say, can you help me
8:04 any to euthanize Manama? We
8:05 will help do that. No kill
8:06 shelters. Don't don't do that.
8:11 They have the ability to say
8:12 So the dinner for the shelter
8:16 really is services for all.
8:17 And it creates quite of this
8:18 impact. As you can see, as far
8:19 as people use the shelter for
8:22 those services, behavioral
8:24 Solutions center. That's so
8:25 the growing need overtime. And
8:27 then you can see how many
8:28 folks are self identified as
8:29 minority status. Getting
8:35 services there. This is just a
8:37 My budget looks a real big,
8:39 but really only 38 million of
8:42 it is general fund supported
8:44 good proportion of it is
8:45 passed through through the
8:47 Special Revenue Fund sales tax
8:47 funds and the Denver Health
8:49 Operating Agreement and to q.
8:55 So we are small but mighty.
8:56 This is what our general fund
8:57 budget looks like by
9:00 expenditure type. And just in
9:00 case that services and
9:04 supplies looks very large.
9:05 They are mostly made up of 2
9:06 big contracts. The solution
9:09 Center at 2.7 million and
9:11 star, which is the paramedics
9:12 to Denver, Health and
9:12 Servicios, which is almost
9:14 5 million dollars. So the
9:15 propensity of that services
9:17 and supplies line is through
9:18 contracts with our community
9:22 partners. This is what our
9:23 fund budget has looked like
9:28 over time. I think you guys
9:31 ask this last year. The big
9:37 jump from 22 to 23 when parsed
9:40 out some of the services with
9:41 Denver health and decide to
9:41 take the some of those and
9:43 houses provide them for the
9:44 city. So that's the
9:45 epidemiologist the disease
9:48 investigation team, the
9:49 nursing some vaccination
9:57 programs and vital records.
9:58 You all asked ask us to align,
9:59 show how we're aligning with
10:02 City Council priorities. The
10:04 first one increase community
10:05 safety. So there I think great
10:07 examples, again, of all Turner
10:09 response or the star program,
10:10 the road to recovery and all
10:13 in mile high. And we have a
10:14 really big focus last year and
10:16 this year on firearm injury
10:17 prevention. And that's one of
10:20 our strategic plan goals. And
10:22 we have a little grant way. We
10:22 are focusing on giving out
10:23 safety locks in storage boxes
10:26 to community partners. While
10:26 we're talking about roads, I
10:30 know we had a you all had a
10:33 difficult conversation about
10:34 cares and how the city uses
10:35 the services and in particular
10:37 connection to services for
10:38 folks that we're trying to get
10:41 connected for the for our
10:43 roads, partners, community
10:44 partners. We do require as a
10:47 condition of funding to
10:48 coordinate on follow-up care
10:51 and provide us with data on
10:51 specific services that are
10:52 provided and how that person
10:54 got connected to care. So we
10:57 can show the outcomes. And I
10:59 think, well, we appreciate the
11:00 services that Denver cares
11:04 provides right now. They are.
11:05 Mostly a social detox service.
11:07 So this might be someone who
11:08 has a little bit too much to
11:11 drink after game and
11:12 they need latest place to stay
11:14 overnight as an alternative to
11:17 sobering up overnight in jail.
11:18 And while these are
11:20 significant and important
11:21 services, our highest level
11:24 services are, as you all know,
11:25 what's left are these really
11:27 high needs clients and our
11:28 need to get them connected and
11:30 get them into the right kind
11:34 of services and have them show
11:34 out comes with data and we
11:36 just don't really have that
11:37 connection right now. It's
11:38 under cares. And that kind of
11:43 service with them. Not think
11:44 Donna has been working with
11:45 Jeff don't. And I she really
11:46 wants to focus on. How do we
11:48 do strategic planning
11:50 together? How do we align
11:51 better with Denver health? How
11:52 do they align with us so that
11:53 we can get to the end goal of
11:54 where we want to get with
11:58 services and I would say one
11:59 thing that we could really
12:00 focus on with Denver Health is
12:02 the strategic planning goes
12:04 with them and as cares moves
12:07 from a 3.2 to a 3.5 services
12:07 which is means they can
12:08 provide higher level services
12:10 than just social detox. I
12:12 think we could figure out how
12:14 do they fit into the fabric
12:16 of, for example, providing
12:17 services to our roads, clients
12:18 and data that shows better
12:18 outcomes because they go to
12:21 get the services there. And so
12:22 I do think that there's a
12:26 potential for us to really
12:27 tackle and jumped on an
12:28 opportunity as Denver cares.
12:29 Moves from 2.2, the 2.5 level
12:36 of service. Again addressing
12:38 City Council priorities,
12:39 empowering communities as you
12:41 all know, we've done a lot of
12:42 work in the residential health
12:44 space with City Council and
12:46 the tenants union and made a
12:49 lot of improvements there. I
12:50 think of work is still
12:51 ongoing. And I have phone a
12:52 friend want to get into
12:53 details of that, strengthening
12:57 our food system. The food it
12:58 for me was so energizing hope.
13:00 Those of you who went felt the
13:02 same way thinking about how
13:03 people get their food, where
13:06 they get their food from,
13:06 especially as Donna pointed
13:07 out, with changes to hr one
13:10 and snap benefits I think
13:11 we're going to see an
13:11 increased demand and need for
13:14 services with the city. And
13:15 you also the great work that
13:16 our team does to try to create
13:20 all those connections. You
13:22 work with our public health
13:24 nursing team as we get kind of
13:25 different kinds of grants for
13:27 trying to expand their work
13:28 into cardiovascular tobacco,
13:30 diabetes, not just
13:32 vaccinations. We also got some
13:33 general from last year for