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Denver's last federal pandemic dollars: $400,000 in interest for businesses hurt by construction, and other fine print in the budget

Alongside the 2027 budget, Tuesday's Finance and Business Committee takes up bills that spend leftover pandemic-relief interest, rename the Council's own fund, move Xcel franchise money for low-income energy help, and fix two older funding rules.

By Denver Politics staffUpdated

Every year the Denver budget comes with "companion" bills: smaller ordinances that change how particular city funds work so the budget can be carried out. Several are on the Finance and Business Committee's agenda for Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 10:30 a.m., Election Day (agenda).

Why it matters: one spends some of the last of Denver's federal pandemic-relief money. Another moves money from Xcel Energy's franchise fees, the subject of ballot question 2K, to a different city office. And one formally renames a fund the City Council uses to hire its own outside help.

$400,000 in pandemic-relief interest for the BIO Fund

26-1649 would put $400,000 in interest earned on Denver's American Rescue Plan Act money toward the Business Impact Opportunity Fund, or BIO Fund, in 2027. The fund gives grants to small businesses hurt by city construction. The Finance Department says the move is "part of the Mayor's response to the City Council 2027 budget letter" (request).

The mayor had already agreed to make $2 million available for the fund, CBS Colorado reported. We covered the fund's earlier federal money and a plan to make it permanent here.

The ARPA tally. Denver received $308,048,870 from the U.S. Treasury in 2021. The Council required that spending be approved by amending the original ordinance, which is why this keeps coming back. With interest, total allocations would reach $324,590,051, and nothing would remain unallocated, according to the request:

  • $79.2 million for "revenue loss," replacing lost city revenue;
  • about $235 million for "recovery" programs;
  • $8.2 million in premium pay for workers;
  • about $2 million to $2.3 million for administration.

What our records add. The request lists how earlier interest has been used. In 2023, $4.7 million in interest went toward the goal of sheltering 1,000 people, and later that year leftover money and more interest, combined with shifts inside the recovery category, supported $2 million for the Denver Basic Income Project and $23.4 million for House 1000. In 2024, $2 million in interest went to All In Mile High. In 2025, $4 million went to rental and utility assistance, elections, immigrant legal services, wage theft enforcement and the Denver Food Systems Summit. Monday's budget amendments include a proposal to study the Denver Basic Income Project (our story).

Xcel franchise money moves to the climate office

26-1647 moves the "Energy Efficiency Assistance" fund from the Office of Human Rights and Community Partnerships to the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency and renames it the "Equity Energy Efficiency" fund. The fund receives the share of Xcel Energy franchise fees dedicated to low-income energy efficiency programs for residents and nonprofits. The 2027 budget puts $2 million in it under the climate office (request).

Voters decide Xcel's new franchise, ballot question 2K, on Tuesday. Our explainer covers how the Council voted on it.

The Council's own fund gets its real name

26-1640 renames Special Revenue Fund 11701 from the "City Council District Special Revenue Fund" to the "City Council Procurement Special Revenue Fund." The request traces the fund to a 1985 ordinance about an analysis of the Convention Center and says the city "cannot locate" later ordinances that changed its uses. A 2021 ordinance let the Council hire professional services on its own, and in 2022 the city moved $75,000 from the General Fund into this fund for that purpose. The new name has been used since then but was never made official (request).

Two fixes

  • Employee health self-insurance. 26-1648 switches the Medical Self-Insurance fund back to a set annual appropriation. A 2023 change tied its budget to incoming revenue so claims could be paid, but the Finance Department says that created "significant administrative burden" in making weekly payments (request).
  • Arts & Venues capital transfers. 26-1643 restores permission for Denver Arts & Venues to move surplus money into its capital projects fund. A 2014 ordinance meant to make those transfers permanent removed a deadline but left no language authorizing them, the request says (request).

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