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Ten budget amendments are filed for Monday: Day Works, a basic income study, STAR and more, with police and housing money as the source

Council members have posted 10 formal changes to Mayor Mike Johnston's 2027 budget ahead of Monday's amendment night. Together they would move $2.2 million to $2.9 million, depending on which versions pass. Here is each one, where the money would come from, and how similar amendments fared last year.

By Denver Politics staffUpdated

Monday, Nov. 2, is the last night Denver City Council members can change Mayor Mike Johnston's 2027 budget. By Thursday, 10 formal amendments had been posted to the Nov. 2 agenda. Most move a few hundred thousand dollars from one line to another. Because two pairs are either-or versions of the same idea, together they would shift between about $2.2 million and $2.9 million in a General Fund of about $1.7 billion.

Why it matters: these are the Council's last chance to fund things the mayor's plan left out, such as a jobs program for people in shelters, a study of the Denver Basic Income Project and more money for STAR, the city's non-police crisis response. Several would pay for it with money now budgeted for the Police Department.

The mayor agreed to about $4.2 million of the roughly $26 million in changes the Council asked for in October, the Denver Gazette reported. The amendments are the Council's formal response.

The 10 amendments

All the text below comes from the amendment documents posted in the city's legislative system.

Shontel Lewis, Day Works (two versions). 26-1659 would put $530,000 into the economic development office's employer recruitment and training fund so it could seek bids for a new Denver Day Works program for two years. 26-1660 is a three-year version at $780,000. Both take about $50,000 from graffiti and Keep Denver Beautiful lines, with the rest split evenly between the Finance Department's and Housing Stability's services and supplies budgets (two-year text, three-year text).

Lewis, Denver Basic Income Project study (two versions). 26-1665 would send $240,000 to a Homeless Services Fund line in Housing Stability for a one-year study of the project "and its impact on participants," taking $120,000 each from the Police Department's and the public health department's services and supplies. 26-1666 is a three-year study at $720,000, with $600,000 from police (one-year text, three-year text).

Lewis, STAR. 26-1661 would cut the General Fund transfer to the city's business incentives fund by $500,000 and add the same amount to STAR (text).

Lewis, Office of the Independent Monitor. 26-1662 adds $60,000 to the police watchdog's personnel budget. The amendment says the mayor already added $60,000 and this would let the office make the position an analyst (text). It names no offsetting cut.

Paul Kashmann, street safety programs. 26-1658 would move $400,000 from police administration's services and supplies to the transportation department's Office of Business and Community Engagement, to "restore funding for safety programming" there (text).

Darrell Watson, Nest56. 26-1663 would move $300,000 from Housing Stability's HOST performance contracts into its General Fund budget for supportive services at Nest56 (text). Nest56 is a 56-unit supportive housing building for young adults leaving homelessness or foster care, according to its developer.

Watson and Flor Alvidrez, fair housing. 26-1664 uses the same HOST source to move $100,000 to the Denver Metro Fair Housing Center "to prevent and mitigate housing discrimination" (text).

Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, public defender. 26-1657 moves $60,000 from the Mayor's Office personnel budget to the Office of the Municipal Public Defender for "overdue pay equity audits and required vendor expenses" (text).

The numbering (Gonzales-Gutierrez's is No. 3; Lewis's start at No. 2) suggests other drafts exist that have not been posted. More could appear before Monday.

What our records add: how these ideas did last year

Several of these proposals have been before the Council before. On Nov. 3, 2025, the Council voted on the 2026 budget amendments (meeting):

  • Day Works passed 13-0. The Lewis and Sarah Parady amendment, 25-1839, funded the program unanimously.
  • Basic income failed 5-8. Lewis's 25-1778 would have moved $2 million from police recruits to Housing Stability for the Denver Basic Income Project (text). Voting yes were Stacie Gilmore, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Kashmann, Lewis and Parady. Voting no were Alvidrez, Kevin Flynn, Chris Hinds, Diana Romero Campbell, Amanda Sawyer, Jamie Torres, Watson and Amanda Sandoval (roll call). This year's version asks for far less, $240,000 or $720,000, and for a study rather than a new group of participants.
  • STAR money passed twice, once 13-0 and once 10-3, as our earlier story on last year's amendments details.

This year there are 12 members, not 13. The at-large seat is empty until voters fill it, so an amendment needs seven votes if everyone is there, and a 6-6 tie fails.

What's next

  • Monday, Nov. 2, 3:30 p.m.: Amendments are first on the Council agenda.
  • By noon Nov. 6: Johnston accepts or vetoes each amendment that passes.
  • Nov. 9: The Council can override a veto with nine votes, and must adopt the budget, 26-1547.