Thursday, September 24, 2026, 10:45 a.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
This Budget Hearings meeting covered Denver Parks and Recreation's proposed 2027 budget, presented by Executive Director Clark and his staff. The total 2027 budget was stated as $211 million, with no reductions in recreation center hours or park maintenance levels; increased costs (retirement, health insurance, minimum wage, and the new Westwood recreation center opening in summer 2027) are being covered largely through actively managed vacancy savings of about $1.043 million. Council members asked about the scaled-back tree planting program (from 4,500 to roughly 2,500 trees), the thin downtown tree canopy and hazardous tree removals, a facility that has been without a long-term operator since Council rejected a proposed agreement in April 2026, park bathroom/porta-potty coverage, the park equity map, native grass conversions, grant revenue declines, and youth programming at recreation centers. Staff committed to a number of follow-ups, including a 30-day timeline to begin an advisory committee and RFP community process.
0:40 Warning it transmission
0:42 looking to department's
0:44 actions. We are in a chief
0:46 operating Good morning, Chris
0:47 Heinz, Denver's the morning.
0:50 There are lots Vine District.
0:54 9 Kevin Flynn, southwest
0:55 numbers district tax
0:55 preparation. Finance just
1:00 insights. The public to
1:03 Fullerton take effect or
1:04 department reached. Good
1:05 morning. John Martinez, deputy
1:09 executive director of torture
1:09 trying prevent a manager's
1:10 department of Parks and
1:14 provided key distant second,
1:15 the Mansour District Good
1:17 morning. Diana Romero,
1:18 Campbell, Southeast Denver
1:18 district people to have a
1:24 chief financial officer, a
1:27 custom means just thank you so
1:29 much. The team for parts of
1:29 the act from to join across
1:30 the city. And thanks for all
1:36 your work on project said
1:37 here's Thank you, MADAM Chair,
1:39 link Good morning, everybody.
1:40 Thank you so much for having
1:41 going to go. And so is this
1:44 renowned miked everywhere? Ok,
1:47 I'm gonna go real quick. And
1:48 also departure Gration. I have
1:51 the most amazing group of
1:53 people who really run this
1:54 operation and like it to stand
1:55 up here and move the slides
1:57 today. Really, this is the
1:58 dream team that makes it all
1:59 happen and delivers all of
2:01 those special moments of joy
2:03 and all of the awesome
2:04 programs and projects every
2:06 time one of your constituents
2:08 walks into a parked box and
2:09 direction so and just go down
2:10 the line back here. So, you
2:11 know, it was in the room with
2:11 us today as well as certain
2:14 park. Our current state
2:19 director policy and strategic
2:21 initiatives instead of like
2:21 one to go in reverse director
2:24 player does it concern Hanley,
2:28 director of a thoroughly and
2:32 the director park operations.
2:32 Tony Bennett is director
2:35 recreation and see operations
2:38 maintenance said House and a
2:38 recreation director,
2:41 Kingsville director of
2:43 Recreation. Good Morning,
2:45 Shannon Dennison director
2:46 Denver Mountain Morning. You
2:48 us marketing and
2:52 communications Good morning.
2:53 Elisa Humboldt Park direct
2:56 clerk. I made a mistake. I
2:57 didn't realize I didn't go to
2:58 the phone. Sometimes if I MAY
3:00 interrupt just go online and
3:02 actions from council members
3:05 that are outlined my policies.
3:06 Thank you. MADAM Chair, Paul
3:07 Kashmann, South Denver
3:12 District 6. And the council
3:19 endorses also think you can
3:21 you know, yeah, I wasn't here.
3:25 I'm sorry for counts it comes
3:28 to terrorists not impossible.
3:29 Well, I'm not man most of you
3:30 have that you know, somebody
3:31 from this team at some point.
3:33 And I think it's always good
3:36 to faces to names when in the
3:37 room together. We're very
3:38 excited today to be here to
3:39 present the proposed budget
3:41 for parks and recreation for
3:43 2027 start with yours. Just a
3:46 reminder about our mission. I
3:49 think you know when you're got
3:49 our mission by this is what we
3:53 have down on paper for mission
3:54 vision and then really want to
3:56 highlight throughout this
3:56 presentation. Some of the
4:00 h#
4:00 things that we worked really
4:00 o#
4:00 protecting and
4:02 preserving within this budget,
4:03 including recreation hours,
4:05 you'll see no reduction in
4:06 recreation hours anywhere
4:08 across maintaining our current
4:10 park maintenance levels, which
4:11 is really important because
4:12 that's where people are. Every
4:13 single day was very important
4:15 to us. And that impact
4:17 everyday on people's use. And
4:18 then on capital projects, our
4:20 team meets with each of you
4:23 and your offices every year to
4:25 talk through capital projects
4:28 for our 6 year cip that we get
4:29 things kind of in the hopper
4:31 to be moving forward. And so
4:32 any delay to that puts
4:33 projects that the community is
4:36 hoping for or expecting for
4:37 has been asking for delay. And
4:37 so we worked really hard to to
4:38 try to keep those projects
4:43 moving And again, some of our
4:44 strategic priorities for
4:45 Twenty-twenty 7. You'll see
4:47 over here on the other side.
4:48 Again, just a reminder of some
4:50 of our guiding principles for
4:52 the game plan adapt, connect,
4:54 diversify, reinvest, and grow
4:55 the drive what we But some
4:57 other highlights for 2027. We
4:59 will be opening. A brand new
5:00 wrecked center in Westwood
5:04 currently on pace to open in
5:05 the summer 2027. We're going
5:07 to continue our landscape
5:08 transformation projects. You
5:10 see a couple listed out here.
5:11 You'll see this throughout the
5:14 presentation. This is really a
5:16 key part our role in climate
5:18 resiliency and also creating
5:19 those resilient landscapes,
5:20 but also in reducing our water
5:22 use. Denver parks and
5:23 recreation is Denver. Water's
5:25 number one customer. So when
5:26 we hit things like drought,
5:29 our ability to meet that
5:31 moment is arguably the most
5:32 important one across the city
5:34 as a single group we have over
5:39 1100 almost 1200 individual
5:39 accounts with underwater. And
5:42 so part of that continuing to
5:43 transform landscapes, go
5:44 through parks, looking at
5:47 areas that are not being
5:49 actively used for recreation
5:50 at where we need that turf
5:51 grass so that we can continue
5:54 to have the water and the
5:55 resources to keep those places
5:56 where we do have active
5:57 recreation, where we want
5:59 folks to be able do those
6:01 kinds of things in our parks
6:02 as well. And we've had a lot
6:04 of success with that. The
6:05 projects that department has
6:06 done in the past combined with
6:07 I've talked to in the past
6:09 about our central control
6:10 system where we worked out a
6:13 smarter sprinkler system
6:14 across our system that can
6:14 tell when it's raining. And so
6:15 we're not watering when it's
6:16 raining when something breaks
6:19 something. It's driven over by
6:20 a car and all the sudden
6:21 spring water can be turned off
6:23 on an iPad. We don't need
6:25 somebody to get there. All of
6:28 those things have really come
6:29 together in this year of
6:30 drought where we are on pace.
6:32 We met every target that
6:33 Denver water sent for us their
6:34 goal to reduce water
6:37 so far during what was a very
6:37 consumption by 20% every month
6:40 hot and dry summer. We also
6:41 see neighborhood park
6:42 improvements continuing. These
6:44 are a lot of the projects that
6:46 you all and your constituents
6:47 are always reaching out to
6:48 that are in our neighborhood
6:49 parks and so continuing to
6:51 move those projects forward.
6:53 As I mentioned on our seats 6
6:55 year Cip plan, we have some of
6:56 our bigger projects that are
6:57 scheduled to open back up at
6:59 Civic Center and skyline in
7:02 downtown in 2027 continuing to
7:05 plant trees. We banned in
7:06 front of you talking about our
7:07 tree canopy areas where we're
7:09 continuing to try to increase
7:10 our tree canopy, but also the
7:12 threats to our existing tree
7:14 canopy, including drought. So
7:15 we had different were able to
7:17 be smart with our water use
7:19 and have a different watering
7:21 planned for areas that have
7:22 trees, that areas that don't
7:23 to make sure that our trees
7:24 were staying alive. But also
7:25 now with the emerald ash borer
7:27 having been found in multiple
7:28 locations in our city. We know
7:30 that about 20% of our tree
7:32 canopy is Ashton is at risk.
7:35 And so continuing. To not just
7:39 treat some of those high value
7:42 plant a plant because it takes
7:42 older trees, but continue to
7:44 many years for those trees to
7:45 take the place of ones that
7:47 we're going to lose from
7:49 emerald ash and then working
7:49 on all of our bond projects
7:52 that are out of ira bomb that
7:53 we're very excited about
7:54 moving each of those into some
7:58 form of being started this
8:01 year and will continue move
8:01 into design and delivery and
8:03 27. And as I mentioned, our
8:05 our water, conservation and
8:06 drought management. We
8:08 anticipate other than water
8:10 year what the weather will
8:10 hasn't hasn't look yet at next
8:12 bring over the winter. But we
8:12 anticipate it being another
8:13 year. We have to actively
8:19 manage for water. Use. Some of
8:20 the philosophy steps again,
8:21 that I want to really
8:23 reiterate as we're looking to,
8:25 how do we cover will walk
8:28 through some additional costs
8:29 maintaining our current
8:29 within our budget, really
8:30 service levels talked about
8:31 that from the recreations
8:33 item. The parkside minimizing
8:37 any impact community would
8:37 setting the mandatory
8:38 expansions that will talk
8:40 about bit more detail in a
8:41 second and leveraging revenue
8:47 opportunities that we have.
8:48 Also city council priorities,
8:50 the documents that you all put
8:51 out, go through all of that
8:53 and try to align our work is
8:54 as we can with the areas that
8:57 overlap with So a couple areas
8:59 highlighted Climate resiliency
9:00 called out as a priority by
9:02 city Council. You can see that
9:04 across our budget, our
9:05 landscape transformations,
9:05 treating resilient
9:06 environments or use their
9:09 water usage, planting trees,
9:11 key to making sure that our
9:12 canopy as healthy and we're
9:12 preserving as much as we can
9:14 and conserving water. And if
9:16 you take out across those
9:19 budget areas, 14 over 14 and a
9:20 half million dollars. And then
9:23 also the bridge You know, our
9:24 bridges are generally a little
9:24 bit smaller than the ones that
9:26 you heard about probably from
9:28 Dottie in the previous
9:28 presentations, but also our
9:31 key connectors for folks using
9:32 every day. And we have a lot
9:34 of them that are aging or or
9:36 or close repair. And so you'll
9:38 see that we also have almost 2
9:38 and a half million dollars
9:39 going into bridge repair and
9:44 replacement. Everything that
9:46 we do. We look at through that
9:48 equity lens on the next slide.
9:51 You'll see our equity And as a
9:53 reminder, take the city's
9:54 equity indicators and then we
9:55 overlay park specific
9:57 indicators on top of that to
9:59 inform the work that we do. So
10:01 that goes you know, our
10:03 investment on the capital We
10:06 also always look at from a
10:07 program standpoint from what
10:07 we're doing and what we're
10:09 investing, tax dollars. We
10:11 look at go through this on on
10:13 the slide after Kind of that
10:15 individual benefit. And so
10:15 community benefit versus
10:16 just touched briefly there.
10:19 And walk you through that
10:20 again. And then again about
10:22 preserving the hours at the
10:23 recreation centers. Top
10:23 priority for us in the 27
10:29 budget. Here you can see
10:30 again, this is not gonna look
10:33 exactly the same as the city's
10:34 equity map because we go and
10:37 we put park indicators like,
10:38 do people have a 10 minute
10:41 walk, access, total park
10:42 acreage for 1000 residents and
10:44 then also our 10 year
10:45 historical capital Investment,
10:48 which helps us to see with
10:49 more granularity where we
10:50 putting dollars over the last
10:52 10 years so that we can make
10:53 sure that we're investing
10:54 those in the areas. This is
10:56 that as we move forward, that
10:56 that need it the and that
11:00 haven't had those investments.
11:01 And then our this is the
11:03 individual versus community
11:05 benefit kind of parent that we
11:06 always look at things. We look
11:07 at when we're providing some
11:09 of those services like our
11:11 recreational services, for
11:12 example, is what we're
11:13 providing mostly have an
11:13 individual benefit to the
11:17 individual, was using it or is
11:18 there some sort of community
11:19 benefit? Is that somewhere in
11:20 between? Is it mostly
11:21 community benefits? And so
11:22 you'll see some of the things
11:25 we'll talk about our golf
11:26 Enterprise which it was
11:28 largely individual benefit for
11:31 somebody going out and playing
11:32 round of through our rentals
11:32 where there's some
11:33 community-building happening
11:36 in team sports and to our our
11:37 youth programs, whether that
11:41 be through first tr golf
11:42 program that really opens the
11:43 doors kids who who have no
11:45 previous experience with golf
11:46 to learn how and have access
11:48 to our courses. Are you sports
11:48 programs that we have
11:49 throughout our rec center that
11:50 have a lot of community
11:54 benefit? Here you'll see are
11:56 kind of or chart most in a
11:57 couple different versions of
11:58 this organized a little bit on
12:00 our cost centers with our
12:01 parks, recreation. You heard
12:04 from a lot of folks here, from
12:06 planning design, construction
12:07 forestry, our mountain parks,
12:08 and then the admin functions
12:10 of what we do with finance
12:11 marketing safety. Those kinds
12:15 of things. All right, getting
12:17 into some of our our metrics
12:18 are our system usage. If you
12:20 remember this, this no longer
12:21 goes back far enough to show
12:22 kind of the covid years. But
12:26 there was a huge drop in our
12:27 rec centers because they were
12:29 closed during covid. But a
12:31 huge bump up when people were
12:33 during covid and were able to
12:35 go outside or weren't able to
12:37 go inside. They went outside.
12:38 And so these are huge bump in
12:40 park usage. We expected to see
12:41 the opposite happened as we
12:43 came out of covid are rec
12:44 centers ramp back up and they
12:45 But what we didn't see was
12:46 really a draw. People got used
12:47 to being in the parks and
12:51 spending time in our Berks and
12:53 that usage state at near
12:53 record levels in state height.
12:54 And you see that our rec
12:55 centers continue to to grow
12:59 and use such as well. There
13:00 are a lot of different
13:01 performance metrics of all of
13:03 our different teams across all
13:05 of our divisions use in their
13:07 work. A couple that wanted to
13:10 highlight here today are my
13:11 Denver usage, which is our
13:13 free access to rec centers and
13:16 programming youth aged 5 to
13:19 18. You can see continues to
13:20 grow are continuing work to
13:22 provide the kind of access and
13:24 programming where young people
13:25 feel safe. They feel engaged,
13:27 something that they want to do
13:28 and where they want to be. And
13:29 we can stun you to see growth
13:32 As we're doing that acres
13:34 converted. That's our