By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Keeping the city safe and clean, finding possible efficiencies in Denver Public Schools, stabilizing Denver neighborhoods and capitalizing on federal stimulus funding will be priorities for the Denver City Council when planning the 2010 budget, the council announced Thursday.
Council members said they are looking to maintain core services and require efficiency and accountability in all city departments. City leaders must trim $70 million over the next 18 months to balance the budget, and the situation going into planning the 2010 budget has been called one of the most difficult fiscal environments in current history by the city council.
“It’s going to be stressful,” said councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.
The Denver city council will begin its budget briefings with Mayor John Hickenlooper in September. Hickenlooper had the first of six community meetings last night in an effort to solicit public input on the city’s 2010 budget plans.
“This is a critical time for our city’s budget as the ongoing recession affects communities across the country,” said a statement from Hickenlooper. “We want to hear from citizens about their priorities for city services and programs.”
The city council outlined the five areas where they will focus their attention in the 2010 budget cycle during a council retreat, according councilwoman Carol Boigon. Boigon said it’s necessary for the council to take its priorities and work “very hard on what we can do locally to support the Denver economy.”
Although the city council collectively identified key principles and priorities in going forward into next year, individual council members stressed their own areas of emphasis.
Boigon said it’s essential that the city accelerate the city bond projects and gets them out the door. In 2007, voters approved the 200 Better Denver infrastructure projects, which Hickenlooper said would pump $200 million per year into the Denver economy over the next three years.
“Every priority that we funded through bonds, we need to accelerate those projects over the next couple of years,” said Boigon. “That will keep people working.”
Faatz said it’s important that the city financially focus on only providing core services, which her constituents have defined as the fire and police departments, street maintenance and trash pickup. Faatz said the Denverites she surveyed said that they would be willing to cut the money that the city puts into economic development, community planning and development, and libraries.
“I want to preserve the core functions as my constituents defined it,” she said.
Tightening own belt
The city council is planning on trimming its own budget overall by around 4.28 percent. The proposed budget cut is smaller than the 7.2-percent across the board slashing for city government that Hickenlooper has requested, and Faatz said the city council should cut 3-percent more so they are matching Hickenlooper’s request.
“I think it would totally destroy credibility to give anyone a message that we are so special that we aren’t in the same boat as everybody else,” she said. “You have to lead by example.”
However, councilwoman Jeanne Robb pointed out that when excluding personnel, the proposed cut would actually be slashing 33 percent of city council’s budget. Robb also said the city council decided to take $10,000 out of every councilmember’s office and that the council members have been joining the city employees in taking unpaid furlough days.
“There are more places to cut and we are not there yet,” she said. “I am pretty proud of the work we did, we are 13 diverse people.”
Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters
