🏛️ May Policy Update ⚖️

Hard to believe another month has already drawn to a close. May was an intense month, and saw the end of the state legislative session, meetings with community, and, as ever, important votes in Council. Most importantly, my office played its part in the annual City Budget process, which reached a few important milestones in the Month of May. I would like to spotlight those milestones and the contributions of my office here, before turning to a few of the things that we voted on in City Council this month.

The 2025 CITY BUDGET PROCESS

The approval of the City Budget is one of the most important functions of the Denver City Council. Despite its importance, I feel that the process is often not explained to the public very well, and the Council’s role in the process is not understood by many (including some in positions of power)! I would therefore like to begin with a brief background of the budget process before turning to the specific milestones that City Council passed in May.

The Denver City Charter requires that the Mayor and City Council pass a budget every year. The Charter also requires that the annual budget be balanced: the City does not, and cannot, spend beyond its revenues in a given year. One more time, for the people in the back: The City DOES NOT incur debt when setting its budget for a year, unlike the Federal Government. If City Leaders wish to use debt instruments such as bonds to finance infrastructure projects, they must seek, and obtain, voter approval from the Citizens of Denver.

The revenues used to determine the total budget for the city of Denver come from a variety of sources. The vast majority—Forty-four percent!—is derived from sales tax on transactions in the city. The next highest amount of revenues is derived from property tax (20%). The remaining twenty-six percent comes from various other sources as diverse as a fee on plastic bags to the price of a round of golf at any of the city owned golf courses. While all of this revenue comprises the total pie that the budget is planned against, not all of that pie can be spent on any purpose. To be sure, the biggest single portion of that pie, called the general fund, can be and is used on any purpose the city may have in mind. However, revenue from special revenue funds can only be spent for certain purposes. Money generated from the plastic bag fee goes into the Climate Protection Fund, which is an example of a special revenue fund: it can only be spent if the expenditure meets six enumerated purposes. Likewise, enterprise funds are funds that are raised by city owned businesses, the revenues from which are plowed straight back into those businesses. For example, the money generated by an outing at one of the City-owned golf courses must be poured back into the operation of Denver Golf, which is wholly sustained by those revenues.

With those basic principles in mind, the Denver City Charter specifies the time frame for passing the budget each year. The Charter requires that by July 1, the city agencies and offices submit their estimated and proposed revenues and expenditures for the coming budget year. On or before September 15, the Mayor must brief City Council on the revenue and expenditure plans for the city. No later than the third Monday in October (October 21, 2024), the Mayor must release his proposed budget. Typically, the proposed budget is released much earlier than that, in order to let the City Council and the public digest the proposed budget. The fourth Monday in October (October 28, 2024) is reserved for a public hearing on the budget, in which the public may come and speak on the proposed budget—concerns, comments, questions, all of the above. City Council is afforded the right to pass amendments to the budget on the first Council meeting in November (November 4, 2024), which the Mayor may veto by the Friday of that week (November 8, 2024). City Council has one chance to override that veto, which occurs on the second regular council meeting in November, right before the City Council must vote to adopt the proposed budget and any of the approved amendments to that budget.

Exciting stuff, calendar review. Eagle eyed readers may have noticed that the above Charter requirements do not specify any date in May. So why are we talking about any of this now? Here’s the answer: City Council is given a huge role in the budget process. We are required to approve the budget. As such, we should have some say in what the budget should contain and what it should prioritize. Therefore, at some point in this process, there needs to be input from the Council as a body. Because agencies will be the one executing on the expressed priorities, it makes sense to fill them in on what the council priorities are, and because they are required to submit their estimated expenditures by July 1, it makes even more sense to let agencies know what we are thinking well in advance of that date to allow them to adjust those estimates accordingly.

So, every May, we meet as a council body and hash out our priorities for the upcoming budget. This year, that meeting was on May 03, 2024. Each Council office may submit as many budget proposals as they like, and each one is voted on. The proposals receiving the most votes are included in a letter to the Mayor’s Office identifying the Council’s budget goals and the specific priorities intended to accomplish the relevant goal. This year, my Office submitted 22 proposals, and got seventeen of them included in that letter, at least in some modified form. Each of the included proposals is discussed below, as well as the overarching goal they fit under.

Budget Goal: Ensure the people of Denver are housed by improving the housing pipeline and ensuring the diversity and stability of housing. Meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerable to homelessness and implement proven and innovative methods to mitigate and reduce involuntary displacement.

If you know anything about me, you know that I am serious about ending homelessness as it exists on the streets of Denver now. To that end, I submitted a budget policy that would create dedicated funding for safe parking for those living in their RVs. These folks are in many council districts around the city. By creating safe parking, we would be allowing them to live safely in their RVs, which are more secure than tents, while they attempt to find more permanent options.

In addition to dealing with the population already out on the streets, it is imperative that the pipeline that makes people homeless in the first place is shut off. I submitted a budget request that would reserve dollars to leverage public resources, including a social housing model. This is  a model that creates public housing that is mixed income, the rents of which can be used to fund the construction of further projects. While social housing is a topic that could fill a whole policy newsletter, suffice it for now to say that I am very excited that this item was included in the budget letter.

Budget Goal: Incubate city-wide business and labor infrastructure and our network of supportive community organizations. Empower workers, sustain a thriving workforce, and support our small and local business sectors.

One aspect of the budget process I enjoy is that the high level goals that the City Council sets are broad enough that many of our specific priorities can be used to accomplish multiple goals. For example, I submitted a budget priority for workforce development to enhance year-round youth employment. While this is empowers workers and helps sustain a thriving workforce, this proposal goes a long way towards also helping reduce youth violence, which is equally important as the economic aspect.

Beyond expanding youth employment, I also thought it very important to ensure that the table be set for as many places as possible. I therefore submitted a proposal that the city of Denver study contract allocation to ensure that the City of Denver is centering equity in the allocation process to the maximum degree possible.

Budget Goal: Treat climate change as an emergency. Protect our natural environment through action and investment. Mitigate harm in areas of environmental injustice.

I was able to get the majority of the climate proposals I submitted included in the letter to the Mayor. These included a proposal to build “cool corridors” that link neighborhoods and council districts together in a way that improves walkability and decreases the heat island effect, both by planting more trees but also through the use of reflective building materials that reflect heat instead of absorbing it. I am happy to relay that this was an idea that was developed through work with District 8 constituents.

Additionally, I was able to get a request submitted that will look towards ways that we can increase native grass seed counts in order to facilitate turf replacement projects in the city, which will allow us to conserve water while also getting to enjoy the benefits of a lawn.  

Budget Goal: Invest in Denver's children, youth, and families. Support, educate, and engage them to meet their multi-faceted, multigenerational needs.

For this goal, I submitted proposals that centered our elders in community. I have heard that many of our seniors, especially those seniors in senior housing developments, feel very isolated and invisible from other parts of their communities and neighborhoods. I find this situation disappointing and shameful. I therefore submitted a proposal for the expansion of programs designed to help seniors better access and be integrated into their communities. This could entail free shuttles to the Art Museum, cultural programming, art classes at a rec center, or other events. In addition, this proposal intentionally includes a request for the funding of free rides to our senior populations to get around with a minimum of fuss.

Budget Goal: Create complete and safe multimodal transportation connections. Improve Denver's infrastructure. Reduce traffic deaths by 25% by the end of 2025.

This is another good example of a proposal that addresses multiple goals. I submitted a request for the funding to expand the existing Denver Connector Microtransit Program, which currently operates for seniors in Montbello. The expansion would be focused on targeted purposes, such as rides to grocery stores for people living in food deserts, or to access transit hubs such as the Central Park RTD station.

An additional request I submitted regarded shifting transportation enforcement away from Denver Police Department and towards Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. I often hear from our constituents that there is a real need for traffic enforcement, and I agree. I also believe that we should be looking at ways to minimize everyday contact with the Police. This is one such way that we can accomplish both sets of goals.

ITEMS AT CITY COUNCIL

There was one specific item at Council this month that I would like to discuss.

-24-0369: Salvation Army Tamarac Shelter Contract

This was a contract for $8,006,556 to the Salvation Army to continue to support its operation of the Tamarac Shelter located in Southeast Denver. If that sounds familiar to readers of this newsletter, it should: I mentioned it in the March edition of this newsletter, when it came before the Safety Committee. Mysteriously, the contract then vanished for an entire month before reappearing before City Council for a vote in mid-May. There were no changes to the contract in that time, which is important to keep in mind.

Salvation Army is one of the largest shelter operators in the entire City of Denver, if not the largest. In March, violence at one of their shelters (in my District) threw light on their practices, which to me looked like a real lack of accountability and a dereliction of their duty to make and keep these shelters safe, despite my efforts to work with them on these very issues from the very start of their operations in the District. I was very disappointed by their lack of cooperation with my office and my suggestions for improving accountability and oversight from Council.

In March, after the violence and the fallout ensued, the Salvation Army showed up in the Safety Committee suddenly singing a very different tune about accountability and oversight, which included the adoption of ideas that my office had previously suggested and which Salvation Army passed off as its own idea, with its own subcontractor to gather data, data which will likely not be shared with Council offices, thus undercutting the goal of oversight.

While I am obviously glad that Salvation Army seems to be more focused on getting it right at the Tamarac Shelter, I voted no on the contract because I simply do not trust them. The fact that they have now—and only after something went wrong—committed to some idea of accountability means very little to me. Additionally, the fact that the city does not require the operator to be accountable to City Council using substantive metrics by which the Council can measure success meant that I could not in good conscience rely on the promises of the Salvation Army. I do hope that they are more successful in meeting their goals this time around, as I want only the best for the people of Denver.

With love,

Councilwoman Shontel M. Lewis

Denver City Council, District 8

P.S. COMING SOON:

Next month, I would like to discuss a piece of legislation that I am co-sponsoring, which is a proposed Charter Amendment to enshrine the right to collectively bargain for Denver City employees. I am very excited about this ordinance and think it will be tremendously beneficial to the future of the City. If passed out of City Council, it would be placed on the ballot for voter approval in November. It will come before the Finance and Governance Committee on June 4, 2024. Stay tuned!