Denver Budget and Policy Committee Meeting - June 22, 2026: Discussion on Best Value Contracting and Seat Tax
Denver Budget and Policy Committee Meeting - June 22, 2026
The Denver City Council Budget and Policy Committee met on June 22, 2026, to discuss two major proposals: a best value contracting ordinance for construction projects and a proposed seat tax on large venue tickets to fund safe routes to school and other transportation improvements. The meeting also included public testimony on community initiatives.
Public Comments & Testimony
- A survivor of abuse and homelessness shared her personal story, describing how she found purpose through a scholarship at Emily Griffith and later founded Latin Fashion Week to promote education, diversity, and culture. She also spoke about a cooking show, Pancho and Pancha, that shares family recipes and cultural stories.
- A brief message urged against driving high, emphasizing the risks and calling for community responsibility.
Discussion Items
- Best Value Contracting (Sponsored by Councilmembers Alvidres and Hines): The sponsors proposed moving from lowest bid to best value contracting for city construction projects over $1 million, using eight evaluation criteria: legal compliance, financial capacity, past performance, workforce practices, safety, compensation and benefits, project approach, and cost. They highlighted adoptions in Adams and Pueblo counties, which reported higher quality, safety, and on-time completion with no net cost increase. The mayor's office (Dominic Moreno) confirmed openness to revising Executive Order 8 to align. Councilmembers questioned the impact on small businesses, pre-qualification burdens, and interaction with existing on-call contracts. A tiered approach (e.g., different criteria for contracts under $2 million) and coordination with the Division of Small Business Opportunity were discussed as potential refinements.
- Seat Tax for Safe Routes to School (Sponsored by Councilmembers Parady and Alvidres): The proposal would place a tiered tax (5% on tickets under $100, 10% on $100–$250, 15% on over $250) on venues with over 1,000 seats. Exemptions include city-owned venues, youth athletics, K-12, higher education, and nonprofit events. Estimated revenue of $30 million annually from the three largest venues would fund safe routes to school, the Denver Moves Everyone plan, and multimodal infrastructure. Councilmembers raised concerns about regressivity, economic impact on families, lack of venue outreach, and the need for specific ballot language and financial analysis. Some expressed skepticism, while others supported the concept but requested more data.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken on either proposal.
- For best value contracting: The sponsors will continue refining the ordinance with input from the mayor's office and stakeholders, addressing small business impacts and pre-qualification procedures.
- For the seat tax: Further outreach to venues and RTD is planned. Ballot language will be developed, and council requested an economic impact study and detailed revenue estimates before any November ballot placement.
Meeting Transcript
Oh you know, I've been here for 25 years. The best years of my life, I can say. And you know, I moved here because I was going through a very rough time in my life where I needed it to find my own world, my own, my own space. I'm a survivor of physical, sexual and mentally abuse. You have two options. Either you use it for your benefit in a positive way what is happening to you, or sometimes you don't survive. I'm blessed to be one of those teenagers that survive and decide to find another world. My first year I was a homeless uh for three months, and then you know, thank God uh right away I tried to apply for a scholarship at Emily Griffith, and that's how I got into the hair. So, for me, I saw what was going on wrong at the time. And I said, Well, I have the capacity, the experience by the best. Why not bring the best to the ones that they are not having the best? I always think about quantity, give it less expensive, give other people the choices that they can come and look beautiful. You don't have to pay a lot of money to look beautiful, you know what I mean. Oh, there was one of the same. Well, first of all, thank you very much for coming tonight. It means a lot for us, all of us that we're behind stage, and the whole community in the state of Colorado to promote education, diversity and culture. By creating Latin Fashion Week was to create an event that would be really inclusive and bring designers from other countries that they are part of our heritage. We are all for me that's what Latino means. We are all a little bit of everything. For me, I was in the show, I was already happy representing my community for the first time with fashion. So that's how I started into the fashion industry and right away I escalated. I'm always looking to have opportunities for the people that are behind me. I'm Latino, yes, but there are thousands of them over there and they're great stylists, they're great designers, but I don't see them here. I never thought it was gonna be so big, trust me. Never thought I just did it. This is for you, you guys decide you guys wanna keep it or not. And the response was positive. The idea of Latin Fashion Week is to bring the education for our people here. And we need to support our local people, our colorans, you know, regardless where they're from. Hello! Pancho! I bet. Pancho is uh is uh it's me and is this it's a little warm, it's in a gave warm, so but Pancho doesn't speak uh Spanish. He only speaks English, but he understands Spanish. And that's because I have so many kids that they come here and I see them speaking English to their mom. We created that to share me and Pancho recipes for my grandmother before coming to the US. My grandmother told me this, okay mijo. When you are over there and you start feeling alone and you need somebody to talk to, start cooking beans like I show you. Put the beans, throw a head of onions, a hair of garlic, and a couple of chile verdes. Don't forget the salt. And when the beans start smelling in the kitchen, is because I'm there. And everything is gonna be okay. Okay, we are going to see mean, get rich, and people that they are connected with us in YouTube, they can send us recipes from their grandmothers from wherever country they are. But for us, it's just as simple as how to cook beans. How to make a salsa, and how to get involved with the kids in the kitchen. Teach them the flavors, what's hot, what's sweet, and always say a story. And I was born an artist. Since I remember, I think making things out of wood. And that's I just want to be a sample for somebody. You know, I wanna I wanna be remembered to say between help me on to do my daughter's quinceanera, help me teach me how to do hair, but to teach me how to do art.
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