STAR's 2027 budget: less from the General Fund, more from grants, and clinicians now on the city payroll
Slides for today's Health and Safety Committee update show Denver's non-police crisis response program growing to about $6.6 million next year while the city's own share drops by about $600,000.
Denver's Support Team Assisted Response program, STAR, sends a behavioral health clinician and a paramedic or EMT to some 911 calls instead of police. City public health staff are briefing the Council's Health and Safety Committee on the program this morning, Wednesday, Oct. 28 (agenda).
The slides posted for the meeting answer two questions residents and Council members have been asking all fall: who runs STAR now, and how it will be paid for in 2027.
Why it matters: STAR handles calls about mental health crises, substance use, homelessness and other situations that don't need police, fire or an ambulance. It runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, citywide, according to the slides.
What the slides say
The clinicians now work for the city. STAR started in 2020 with one van in one police district, weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It went citywide in 2021 and reached eight units a day in 2023. In 2026, clinical services moved in-house to the Department of Public Health and Environment, with 12 clinicians and two supervisors, on the same days and hours. Until now, clinicians had come from a contracted provider. In 2025, Axios Denver reported that WellPower supplied them.
New clinicians get a week of classroom training and four to five weeks of field shadowing, the slides say.
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The budget, by source:
- General Fund: $4,450,887 in 2026, falling to $3,844,644 in 2027. That's about $606,000 less, or roughly 14%. The 2026 figure includes a $580,000 one-time supplemental.
- Grants: $1,609,279 in 2026, rising to $2,734,650 in 2027.
- Subtotal: $6,060,166 in 2026 and $6,579,294 in 2027. With grant money rolled over from prior years, the totals are about $6.93 million and $7.16 million. The slides note the 2027 rollover won't be final until year's end.
The budget, by who gets it, 2026 to 2027:
- City public health personnel: $976,936 to $2,045,073
- Denver Health, for the medics: $2,039,345 to $2,083,995
- Servicios de La Raza, which runs STAR's follow-up and case management network: $2,700,000 to $2,751,608
- WellPower: $500,430 to $0
What our records add
Both 2027 pieces just cleared the Council. On Monday, Oct. 26, the Council gave final approval to 26-1431, a $2,837,767.92 contract with Denver Health for STAR medics and vans through 2027. It passed 11-0 in a block vote, with Council Member Amanda Sandoval absent (roll call). A week earlier, the Council accepted a $2,734,639 Caring for Denver Foundation grant, 26-1432, that runs through July 2027. That grant matches the 2027 grants line in the slides almost exactly.
Staff have said demand outruns capacity. Before the Oct. 19 vote, a public health manager told the Council the Caring for Denver money pays for all of STAR's follow-up services and about half its clinician positions. She said eligible calls rise each year and STAR can't reach them all (video at 1:02:15).
Last year, the Council added money twice. During the 2026 budget, two STAR amendments passed on Nov. 3, 2025: 25-1771, 13-0, and 25-1780, 10-3, with Council Members Kevin Flynn, Amanda Sawyer and Darrell Watson voting no (roll call). Mayor Mike Johnston accepted all amendments that year, Denverite reported.
Our earlier story on STAR's contracts has more background.
What's next
- Today, 10:30 a.m.: The committee briefing. The video will be posted on our meeting page.
- Nov. 2: The deadline for Council budget amendments. Any attempt to restore STAR's General Fund money would have to be filed by then.