Some Denver Motor Vehicle offices will close for a week at a time, recreation centers will reduce their hours and the parks department will slash spring recreational programming by 25% to help offset the fast-rising costs of sheltering migrants in the city.
Efforts to trim city spending will be visible in other small ways. too. Come planting season, the city will leave its flower beds bare.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the first round of budget cuts at a news conference Friday morning — changes that will add up to $5 million in budget savings this year, he said.
But more painful cuts may be coming.
The city, which was sheltering 3,560 migrants in hotels and other places as of Friday afternoon, is projecting a potential $180 million budget shortfall in 2024 without more state or federal support.
The budget announcement signaled a turning point for city leaders. They had been planning for potential cuts in recent weeks but were holding out hope that a tentative border deal in Congress would spare any major reductions in city services by providing federal funding to cities like Denver.
When the border security deal collapsed in the U.S. Senate earlier this week, the city was forced to pivot, said Johnston — who pointedly put the blame on former President Donald Trump, who had pressured Republicans to reject it, in a 2-minute video posted on social media Wednesday night.
“This is a plan for shared sacrifice. This is what good people do in hard situations as you’re trying to manage your way to serve all of your values,” the mayor said while flanked by City Council members and other officials in the City and County Building.
“Our values are (that) we want to continue to be a city that does not have women and children out on the street in tents in 20-degree weather,” Johnston added. “And we also want to be a city that provides all of our constituents with the services they deserve and the services that they expect.”
But those services are now in line for cuts.
Here are additional details on changes the city is making:
- Four of the city’s five DMV offices will close for a week at a time on a rotating basis. The main administrative branch, at 2855 Tremont Place, will maintain its regular hours.
- Motor vehicle offices will no longer process vehicle registration renewals in person. That process must be completed by mail, online or via kiosks. Kiosk locations can be found at denvergov.org/motorvehicle.
- Starting on Feb. 20, regional rec centers will be open only six days per week. Local and neighborhood rec centers that already operate six days a week will have reduced hours. Updated hours are expected to be posted online next week.
- The city is pausing acceptance and processing of permits for public events, special occasions and tournaments until “further into the budgeting process,” according to a news release issued later Friday. Permits for historic events and those submitted before Feb. 4 will not be impacted.
Parks and Recreation executive director Jolon Clark said his department was still working out which spring programs would not be offered this year. The department pushed back the start of the registration period from Feb. 27 to March 5 to provide more time for those decisions.
Johnston said more cuts — and possibly more difficult ones — may be coming soon.
Denver has been host to more than 38,000 people since the migrant crisis began in December 2022, many of them asylum seekers fleeing social and economic strife in Venezuela. As of Monday, the city officials estimated it had spent more than $42 million supporting them, including by providing short-term shelter in hotels.
While many have moved on to other cities, others have remained in the city.
The budget cuts are just part of the puzzle as the city scrounges for money to keep up with the demands it is facing.
On Monday, the City Council will vote on a proposal to take $10 million out of the city’s contingency reserves and $15 million from the budget for planned renovations at the Denver Human Services campus at 1200 Federal Blvd. and put those dollars toward migrant response.
City officials are hopeful that $25 million will provide a bridge through March, according to a presentation last month.
Johnston emphasized Friday that the migrants themselves were not to blame for the city’s financial crisis. He again pointed the finger at federal leaders — particularly Republican politicians who derailed the border bill — who he said had not done enough to support cities or provide a path for migrants to legally work in the U.S.
The situation is “deeply solvable,” Johnston said, if the federal government were to approve policies such as providing newcomers with work authorization or adding staffing at the border to more quickly process asylum applications.
The mayor estimated on Friday that roughly 80% of the migrants the city is sheltering today are families. The administration has already reinstated time limits on shelter stays for migrant families after pausing restrictions due to cold weather. They can stay in shelters for 42 days. Adults without children are now subject to a 14-day length-of-stay limit.
Asked Friday what would happen if the city were to stop offering services to new arrivals, Johnston replied: “That would mean we would be turning them out on the streets without the resources they need.”
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