DENVER — The City of Denver had asked departments to cut 10% to 15% of their budgets to help pay for the migrant crisis. On Wednesday the city said it's now projecting the cost to help migrants will be $120 million this year instead of $180 million. Mayor Mike Johnston's office expects budget impacts to departments could be less with this new estimate.
Department of Human Services went over some of these costs with Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee on Wednesday. The numbers didn't make sense to Denver City Councilmember Stacie Gilmore.
"I don't have any way beyond these PowerPoint presentations, documentation wise, how you are calculating the numbers," she said during the meeting.
She's questioning the math before council will have to vote on setting aside millions of taxpayer dollars to help migrants. In order to move money away from the budgets of departments and into a special fund for migrants, Denver will need city council approval.
"I need more specificity about how we are arriving at these numbers to be able to vote on this come April," she said.
Gilmore told 9NEWS on Thursday she wants a more detailed cost breakdown as departments look at budget cuts.
"He's still trying to get to $120 million. That is a significant percentage of agency budgets," she told 9NEWS. "Without a spreadsheet, I am doing back of the napkin math with myself to try to figure this out."
Johnston's office said its projection changed to $120 million because of a shift in strategies and fewer migrants arriving in the city. A spokesperson said they are working closely with department leaders to identify areas for savings in their budgets.
"The intent has always been to minimize impact on public services as much as possible, which is why $25 million (a majority) of the funding the city has already identified comes from areas with no public impact," the mayor's office said.
Budget reductions made so far have totaled $30 million: $10 million from the city’s contingency funds (i.e., reserves), $15 million from a building remodel fund, and $5 million from reduced hours at DMVs and recreation centers this year.
Denver is continuing to evaluate the demands of the city budget and expects to share more data in April.
"We still need to make sure that math is mathing to make those good decisions," Gilmore said.
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