DENVER — The City of Denver announced Wednesday it will spend $89.9 million on services for newly arrived migrants in 2024. The programs will be funded using money saved in budget cuts that will impact every agency in the city.
Earlier this year, Denver reduced hours at some rec centers and DMV offices in a plan to save $5 million to help pay for migrant services. Mayor Mike Johnston's administration is now reversing that decision, returning all rec centers to regular operating hours on June 7. There will be no cuts to summer programming.
The city also announced there will be no furloughs or layoffs of city employees; however, nearly $20 million will be saved through not hiring some applicants for vacant positions currently open across city agencies. The city said 160 positions out of roughly 13,000 in Denver will not be filled immediately. The city said most of these positions are planning positions or positions that don’t directly interact with the general public.
Denver said there will be no reductions to any major public service in the newly announced budget. While Denver’s newly announced budget adjustments total a significant amount of money, they are far less than what Johnston in January announced that the city may need to cut. Fewer migrants arriving in Denver from the southern border as well as the city’s move to close all but one hotel shelter housing migrants have brought the cost down, the city said.
Johnston originally asked all city agencies to submit proposals to cut their budgets by up to 15%. That drastic of a cut was ultimately not needed. The city said the average cut to all city agencies was 2.5% of their yearly operating budget.
> Watch Johnston's Wednesday news conference
Public safety departments in Denver will not be immune to the cuts. The Denver Fire Department will reduce its budget by nearly $2.5 million. That is about 0.8% of its yearly operating budget. About half of those reductions come from not filling vacant positions. The Denver Police Department will cut nearly $8.4 million, or about 1.9% of its budget. About $5.3 million of that money comes from not filling open positions.
Denver said the city will not stop recruiting classes for police officers or firefighters. In at least one case, Denver International Airport will pay the cost of putting a recruiting class through the police academy. The city said that because the airport also uses police officers, it agreed to pay for a recruiting class as the rest of the city cuts money.
Denver will also shift how it pays 911 operators in order to save money. The city has a “911 trust fund” that it will use to pay 911 operators in 2024. It is not known how much money that will save Denver.
The agency with the highest percentage of budget reduction is the mayor’s office. The city plans to cut 9.6% of funding from Johnston’s office. That totals $335,155. Cuts include savings from not filling vacant positions, as well as savings from services and supplies.
Of the $89.9 million that Denver intends to spend on migrant services this year, the city still needs to account for about $45 million. About 50% of the funding has already been secured through previous budget reallocations, savings funds and federal funding.
Denver needs approval from City Council to impose many of the budget reductions that intend to save the city a total of $45.9 million in 2024. The mayor’s office plans to present its proposals for budget cuts to City Council’s finance committee on April 16.
With this money, the city is creating a new program it is calling the Denver Asylum Seeker Program. The city said it will be focused largely on helping people who arrive in the city and are seeking asylum.
The program will be available for about 1,000 people currently in the city's shelter system, the city said.
The city said people in the program will be connected to housing assistance for up to six months from the date of their asylum application. They'll also be connected with a workforce training program.
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