The Denver City Council went big when it asked new Mayor Mike Johnston to add more money to next year’s city budget for emergency rental assistance, cash payments for people who are homeless, support for Denver Health and other requests.
Johnston has responded by accepting $10.6 million in spending additions — just an eighth of the more than $81 million the body asked for to meet its 2024 priorities in a significant increase from past years. He granted several requests only partially.
Multimillion-dollar gaps remain between the council and the mayor as they work to pass a 2024 budget by Nov. 13. The process is giving new officeholders on both sides a lesson in the power dynamics of Denver city government, which favors the mayor on budget matters but gives the council some levers to pull.
In coming weeks, the council could attempt to amend the budget to incorporate more of its priorities, while the mayor could veto those changes — at the risk of being overridden, if the council has enough votes. Johnston’s budget proposal already includes $1.74 billion in general fund expenditures.
A public hearing on the budget is set for Monday’s council meeting.
In a letter sent to Johnston earlier this month, council President Jamie Torres and Amanda Sandoval, the president pro tem, outlined 28 specific budget requests.
Last year, the council asked outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock for $17.5 million in changes to his proposed budget. The substantial increase in this year’s requests, by a factor of more than four, did not escape Johnston’s attention in his response.
Hancock, for his part, agreed to increase the 2023 budget by $6.3 million.
“Although the size of these proposed funding changes is a significant departure from past practice, we appreciate the passion of your advocacy and we have worked hard to expand investments in some of your most important priorities,” Johnston wrote.
Among the biggest council asks was $17.5 million more for emergency rental assistance to help stabilize Denver residents struggling with rising lease rates. Council members couched that spending as an important complement to Johnston’s goal of sheltering 1,000 unhoused people this year via his emergency homeless initiative.
Johnston has agreed to add $3 million to the pot for temporary rental and utility assistance, increasing the 2024 total for that program to $15.6 million, “despite a significant decrease in federal support,” he wrote.
Another major request was for $15 million more for the city’s contribution to Denver Health, the city’s public safety net hospital, which helps pay for patient care for vulnerable residents. Johnston agreed to a $3 million increase, on top of $73 million budgeted for the city and Denver Health’s operating agreement — an amount that already reflected a 6% increase over this year’s funding, he pointed out.
But that total had included a $30.8 million contribution for uncompensated care, which is provided to people who are uninsured or unable to pay, that would have remained flat from this year. Donna Lynne, Denver Health’s CEO, said during a September budget hearing that uncompensated care costs the hospital just over $100 million a year — leaving the hospital with what she dubbed “a $70 million problem.”
Johnston agreed to budget adjustments below what council members requested in other areas, including adding $2 million to support the Denver Basic Income Project; the council had requested $4 million.
That partly city-funded initiative has provided direct cash payments of up to $12,000 to hundreds of unhoused people over the last year, with researchers examining the impact of the no-strings-attached money on their lives. The city contributed $2 million in COVID relief money to that pilot program in 2022.
The mayor rejected other budget requests, saying they weren’t ripe for funding, including $3 million that would have been used to wipe out medical debt for some Denver residents. In his response, Johnston referenced an obligation to present a balanced budget while ensuring the city has strong reserves and can maintain critical public services.
But his responses to the requests aren’t necessarily the final word.
Twenty-five of the council’s recommendations received support from a supermajority, or at least nine of the 13 council members. That’s the same as the two-thirds threshold that would be needed to override a mayoral veto. But it’s unclear if the council will vote on some of those items as formal amendments.
Council members Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Paul Kashmann were among those who expressed their displeasure during Monday’s meeting with some of the mayor’s funding choices — especially when it came to not fully funding the emergency rental assistance request. They hinted that the mayor may have a fight on his hands.
Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore has been especially critical of the Johnston administration’s budgeting, joining the minority in voting against extending his homelessness emergency declaration this week because she has not seen a detailed budget for that work yet.
About the council’s budget requests, she said: “I look forward to working with my council colleagues to address that significant gap in necessary funding, especially for those most in need in our city.”
The Johnston administration, meanwhile, suggested that outside sources could help expand the city’s social safety net.
“Mayor Johnston looks forward to continuing to work with the state and federal government, as well as nonprofit and philanthropic partners, to identify other ways we can increase our investments in our shared priorities,” spokeswoman Jordan Fuja wrote in an email.
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