Thread: Denver to spend $89.9 million in 2024 on services for migrants, cutting budgets from

Denver to spend $89.9 million in 2024 on services for migrants, cutting budgets from all city agencies to fund programs

The budget cuts are significantly less than previously thought, totaling about half of the $180 million projected budget shortfall announced earlier this year.

Author: Marc Sallinger (9 News)
Published: 11:37 AM CDT April 10, 2024
Updated: 8:17 AM CDT April 11, 2024

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.

https://www.wqad.com/article/money/2024-services-migrants-budget-cuts-denver-agencies-fund-programs/73-a8654a1f-0a20-4928-9d4d-f8a3c2966719

Blue City Plans To Defund Its Police Force To Pay For Illegal Immigrants

(Screenshot / YouTube / City and County of Denver)

JAKE SMITH CONTRIBUTOR
April 11, 2024 2:19 PM ET

The Democratic-run city of Denver, Colorado, plans to defund its police department to pay for illegal immigrants.

Denver, which is commonly referred to as a “sanctuary city,” announced on Wednesday that it will spend $89.9 million on services for incoming illegal migrants, pulling some of the funding from roughly $45 million in public programs and services. Denver’s police department will be hit with an $8.4 million reduction — about 1.9% of its total operating budget, the city confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Denver became the top destination per capita for incoming migrants in 2023, having had more than 40,000 arrive that year alone — putting the total migrant population at roughly 710,000, according to NBC News.

Denver already spent over $42 million in 2023 in housing and medical services for migrants and plans to spend over $100 million on similar costs in 2024.

The fire department will also suffer a $2.5 million reduction, or about 0.8% of its total operating costs, the city told the DCNF. Half of those reductions will also come from vacant positions.



Mayor Mike Johnston
@MikeJohnstonCO
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Today, we shared a new budget and a more sustainable newcomer program.

Proud of our city for welcoming those most in need. Proud of our city teams who found ways to minimize budget without major impacts. More on this announcement: https://ow.ly/yf7Y50RcP1R


11:29 PM · Apr 10, 2024

The city won’t stop recruiting classes for new police officers or firefighters, but at least one class will have to be conducted at the Denver International Airport, which is paying for the cost of hosting it, according to 9 News. 911 operators will also have to be paid differently in order to save the city money.

“Mayor Johnston and the city has invested to add 167 new police recruits to our force in 2024. This puts us on the path to meet the full authorized strength of the police department and improve our ability to respond to 911 calls and follow up on investigations across the city,” Johnston’s office told the DCNF.

One of the most severe cuts will come from Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, which will lose about $335,155 in funding for the plan, or about 9.6% of its total operating budget, according to 9 News. Among other cuts being made are a budget reduction of 2.2% to the Sheriff’s Department, 1.9% to the Department of Public Health and Environment, 2.4% to the Executive Director of Safety and 3.8% to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, according to Fox 31 Denver.

Johnston celebrated the new plan on Wednesday, claiming it was the best option available to provide services to migrants while also mitigating city budget cuts.

“After more than a year of facing this crisis together, Denver finally has a sustainable plan for treating our newcomers with dignity while avoiding the worst cuts to city services,” Johnston said. “So many times we were told that we couldn’t be compassionate while still being fiscally responsible. Today is proof that our hardest challenges are still solvable, and that together we are the ones who will solve them.”

Over 15,000 migrants have flooded into Denver since May 2023 as a result of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing effort. The Lone Star state sits at the epicenter of the illegal immigration crisis.

More broadly, illegal immigration in cities and states across the U.S. has surged under the Biden administration. There were roughly 1.6 million migrant encounters at the northern and southern border in fiscal year 2021, compared to over 2 million in fiscal year 2023 and roughly a million in the first five months of fiscal year 2024, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/11/d...al-immigrants/