Mayor and City Council Weekly Meeting - November 15, 2023: Post-Budget Celebration, State & Federal Briefings
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Mayor and City Council Weekly Meeting - November 15, 2023
On November 15, 2023, at 8:15 AM, Mayor Michael Johnston and the Denver City Council held their weekly session. The meeting opened with congratulations on the unanimous passage of the 2024 budget the previous night—the first unanimous budget since 2017. The agenda included council announcements, a briefing on the upcoming state legislative special session regarding property taxes, and an update on federal government funding negotiations. The meeting concluded with a motion to enter executive session to discuss collective bargaining.
Announcements
- Councilwoman Flora Alvidres (District 7) promoted the upcoming Turkey Trot and noted its benefits for mental health.
- Councilman Daryl Watson (District 9) announced the first Barbershop Talks event at House of Hair, featuring former Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll and Senator James Coleman.
- Councilwoman Jamie Torres (District 3, President Pro Tem) announced that the City School Coordinating Commission passed the previous night, with a convening date set for January 2024. She noted that two council members would be appointed by President Torres, and expressed hope for a new relationship with Denver Public Schools.
- Councilwoman Diana Romero Campbell (District 4) promoted a senior luncheon on November 29 at 11:30 AM at Welshire, with live music and lunch.
- Councilman Chris Hines announced the lighting of the largest digital tree in the nation at Civic Center Park on Friday, November 17, after 5 PM, alongside the opening of Christkindl Market.
- Councilman Paul Cashman noted that the budget, while historic, left many programs underfunded—such as after-school programs and rental assistance—and called for exploring new funding sources.
State Legislative Special Session
- Adam Berg, Director of State and Federal Affairs, briefed the council on the special session called by the governor for Friday, November 17, 2023, at 9 AM, following the failure of Proposition HH. The session's scope is limited to property tax relief and a summer EBT program.
- Property taxes are projected to increase 40–50% due to a cliff from prior legislation. The special session aims to reduce statewide assessments, increase the homestead exemption, and fully fund schools and fire districts for lost revenue. The city will prioritize ensuring fair backfill, as Denver is a city and county combined, which may affect the backfill rate.
- Other proposals under discussion include increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and a rental assistance mechanism. The EBT program would draw down about $35 million in federal funds for 300,000 children, with no fiscal impact on the county.
- Councilman Kevin Flynn noted that Denver's 2012 2A limits property tax revenue growth to 6% plus local growth. He emphasized that the city can adjust mill levies and bank unused mills, providing flexibility. He cautioned against panic, noting property tax is only 11% of the city's budget.
- Councilman Paul Cashman questioned the state's approach to education funding, noting Colorado ranks between 38th and 48th in K-12 funding and near 50th in teacher pay. Adam Berg confirmed and added that the state has underfunded education by over $10 billion since the negative factor (now the budget stabilization factor) was introduced in 2009.
- Councilman Daryl Watson asked about protections for seniors. Berg responded that the homestead exemption is a key component, and housing will be a major topic in the 2024 regular session.
Federal Update
- Adam Berg reported on the federal government funding deadline of Friday, November 17, at 11:59 PM. House Republicans have proposed a laddered continuing resolution (CR) extending funding for some programs to January 19, 2024, and others to February 2, 2024. Notably, funding for Israel, Ukraine, and border security is not included in this proposal, though it is gaining traction.
- The White House and Senate Democrats prefer a joint package including Israel, Ukraine, and immigration funding. Mayor Johnston noted that the worst-case scenario is a CR with no additional supplemental funding; the best case is a comprehensive package. Senator Michael Bennet is part of a bipartisan group working on immigration reform.
- Councilman Daryl Watson requested an analysis of the economic impacts of federal instability. Berg agreed to provide updates, noting that politics (e.g., a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas) could affect negotiations.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken on the briefing topics. The meeting concluded with a unanimous motion (voice vote, all ayes) to enter executive session pursuant to DRMC 233 C1 and 234 A3 and 6 for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining negotiations.
- The council noted that the 2024 budget had been passed unanimously the previous night (November 14, 2023), a historic first since 2017.
Meeting Transcript
Session. City meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. At this weekly session, city agencies brief the mayor and council members on various proposals and projects across the city. This meeting of the mayor and city council members begins now. Good morning, you all. Thank you so much. Welcome to Mayor Council. Delighted to have you here. Welcome to the celebratory post-budget completion mayor council meeting. Councilman Alvidras, you want to begin? Sure. Flora Alvidres, uh, Councilwoman for Lucky District 7. Good morning, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver, District Four. Good morning, Daryl Watson, fine, District Nine. Chris Hines, Denver is perfect. Hi, folks, Sarah Parity. I represent the city at large. Paul Cashman. There you go. Jamie Torres, District Three. We're going to start calling Councilman Flynn the highest council member. Uh although it would be a most likely council member to have run a college radio show. I think has to be Councilman Hines this morning. You can tell in natural voice. I did. Exactly. Um, great to see you all. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Um, and congratulations, obviously, on all the fantastic work on the budget. Very excited that thanks to all of your leadership. I think we passed the first unanimous budget in six or seven years last night, since twenty seventeen. So thank you for all the incredible work you all did to both uh bring your values to life and get to uh I think a document that's gonna be great for the city over the next uh twelve months. And so uh congratulations on all the hard work that I think paid off. I'm excited to be a part of that going forward. Uh I do want to open up for announcements, and then I'll just give you a quail the your your uh cruise direction for the morning are um now that you've solved all of city government, that's great. We're gonna now take you up to the next level and see if you can solve state government and federal government. Um so we are going to give uh some briefings this morning. One on the special session that's coming up, including the debate about property taxes in the wake of HH's failure. Uh we want to give you a briefing on what we think is coming there, what the opportunities might be for your update information. The seconds we do want to give you an update on federal negotiations that are happening of the next three days over both um budget and continuing resolutions and some of the things that directly impact our work. And so that's most of our uh update for for today. Then we do have a special session or executive session uh as well on uh discussing collective bargaining updates. So that's our that's our agenda for the morning. But before we do any of that, I'd love to open it up for announcements if any council members have those that they would like to make. Yes, Councilwoman Alvidres. Um I will just update that next week is the turkey trot and training is going strong. Hopefully, more people come out. Um it's been really good for my mental health too. Just throwing that out there. Thank you.
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