Aurora City Council Budget Workshop – October 4, 2025
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Aurora City Council Budget Workshop – October 4, 2025
The City Council held a budget workshop to review the proposed 2026 budget for all city departments and offices. After establishing the rules for the day (five votes to place a change on the board, six votes to adopt a change), the council methodically reviewed each department's budget, asked questions, and voted on proposed adjustments. Significant discussions focused on the impact of domestic violence case transfers, the SAFER grant denial, the new vehicle registration enforcement, the structure of the HARP court, and council's own contingency and subscription funds. Several cuts were made and funds redirected, most notably transferring $100,000 from eliminated subscriptions to fund the ongoing costs of a citywide siren replacement and modernization program.
Discussion Items
- City Attorney (Pete Schulte): Discussed the move to keep litigation in-house, the impact of DV case transfers, and plans to hold positions open as workload decreases. Councilmember Bergen requested monthly data on DV case progress. The budget was approved without changes.
- Civil Service Commission, Court Administration, Judicial, Public Defender: Each presented no changes to proposed budgets. Council debated reductions for the Public Defender's office based on declining DV cases – a motion to cut two FTEs was deferred to the spring supplemental after data shows workload trends. The judicial budget discussion included a detailed debate on HARP court funding; a motion to move HARP court funds to non-departmental failed (3 votes). The judicial budget was approved.
- Housing and Community Services: Clarified that Advance only operates the navigation campus; city FTEs handle outreach, abatements, and contract oversight. Councilmember Coombs questioned the reliance on marijuana funds and the distinction between HARP and Wellness courts. The budget was approved.
- Information Technology: Scott noted no AI funding in the budget but that vendors are integrating AI. Discussed data center consolidation savings and the need to modernize court IT. Approved.
- Fire: Chief Otten announced the SAFER grant was not received, requiring a shift in station opening plans: Station 18 (Aurora Highlands) will open in 2026 using recession reserves, while Station 19 (Blackstone) is pushed to 2027. The additional general fund cost is $1.69M in 2026, $4.2M in 2027, $2.6M in 2028. Council approved the amended fire budget.
- Police: Chief Chamberlain provided updates on staffing (authorized 748, actual staffing improving), civilianization (traffic collision investigators, quartermaster), the HARP team (6 officers + 1 sergeant, focused on homelessness), and crime stats (violent crime down 22.2%, 58 days without fatal/non-fatal shooting). Discussed DNA lab partnership challenges. Budget approved.
- General Management and Utilities: Approved without changes. Water rate increase 5.4%, sewer 8%, connection fees increased.
- City Council Budget: Council debated cuts to contingency fund (from $16,000 to $7,500) and eliminated three subscriptions: U.S. Conference of Mayors ($67,000 ongoing), Regional Economic Advancement Partnership ($2,000 one-time), and Aurora Singers ($2,500 one-time). Also cut CCS Foundation scholarship table ($3,000 ongoing). The saved funds ($100,000 total ongoing) were redirected to cover the ongoing costs of a citywide outdoor warning siren replacement and modernization program (annual monitoring costs of $80,000–$90,000). The capital replacement costs will be addressed in the spring supplemental. Council also cut 25% from its travel budget. The non-departmental budget was approved.
Key Outcomes
- Fire budget adopted as amended to reflect SAFER grant denial and station opening timeline changes.
- Council contingency fund reduced from $16,000 to $7,500 for 2026.
- Three subscriptions eliminated (U.S. Conference of Mayors, Regional Economic Advancement Partnership, Aurora Singers) – some one-time, some ongoing.
- $100,000 redirected to fund ongoing siren monitoring costs; capital replacement to be proposed in spring supplemental.
- Public Defender FTE reduction deferred to spring supplemental pending workload data.
- HARP court funding retained as proposed after motion to move to non-departmental failed (3 votes).
- The budget ordinance will come for first reading on October 20, 2025, with second reading in early November.
Meeting Transcript
Workshop uh agenda meetings called to order. Uh do we need it? We don't need to call the rule extension. Okay, uh two A. Uh Commissioner Pointing. Okay, so uh good morning, everybody. Um we're gonna get started. We'll start with item one, which is just uh discussion of the budget rules for the day. So for you all, uh if it's okay, uh what we have traditionally done here is you'll notice the two uh boards at the front of the room. Um what we do is we go through uh each of the groups and you'll see that we've organized it uh into um four different groups. We start with uh council and uh commission appointees, then we go into uh uh Roberto Benegas's group, and then we go into Laura Perry's group, and then we finally end with uh I'm sorry, then we're gonna uh my group and then we end with Marshall, and then Greg will do some um cleanup on that. That's kind of the agenda for the day. And as we go through each of those groups, um you all ask any questions you have. We have staff here to answer those questions, and then if you would like to make any changes to uh the budgets uh as presented for um uh either that that group or that appointee. What we typically have done in the past is if five of you want to discuss that, we uh put that on one of the post-it notes. Uh so we get five votes. The mayor will make sure that they're there. Once we have five votes, it goes on the board that there's at least enough consensus to discuss it further, and then once we get through everybody, then we'll come back and go through everything that's on the board, and you need six votes to go ahead and make that change in the budget. Uh and then what we would do is we will bring forward uh uh depending on how many changes we have right now. The plan is to bring it forward uh at the uh October 20th meeting would be first reading, second reading would be the first meeting in November. Depending on how many changes you guys have, we may push that two weeks if we have a whole lot of changes, but right now we've got everything lined up. We can handle some minor changes and get it through uh for the 20th. But that's the timing on this uh and the plan. So Mr. Mayor, if there's any questions or discussion, are you guys okay with those kind of rules for the day? Is there any objection? Yes, sir. Francoise? Or how do you say it? Okay. Okay. Councilmember goes. So are we doing of members present or of uh total? We have typically done because you guys are gonna be voting on the ordinance. We have typically done uh five members to get it on the board and then six members total. So we've typically stuck by the six members, not a majority of those present. But again, it it's your call, Mr. Those present. Oh, it should be six. Okay, I it should be six. I think that's not right. My fear would be if we don't get to six here, we're not gonna get to six necessarily on the floor, and then we've got uh ordinances that are prepared. So I think I'm I think I'm agreeing with you, council member. Five or six. I think that's a question. Well, five to put it on the board, six five to put on the words. Is there is there any objection to that? Okay, then well, that's the way we'll proceed. Okay. All right.
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