Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now on Colorado's Morning News.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Working to close a two hundred million dollar budget gap,
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, unveiled has proposed twenty twenty six
city budget this week, totally one point sixty six billion dollars.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
There was a five five point eight percent reduction in
spending as significant budget cuts have been made across city departments,
but the mayor says not two core services and joining
us now in the KAE Comment Spirit of Health hotline
is Mayor Johnston, Mister Mayor, appreciate our Friday conversations. Was
there anything in particular that was a little more difficult
to cut, say, than something else?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
I mean, they were, you know, they're all hard decisions,
but I think what we tried to focus on was
really making sure the most important course services were protected.
So as you said, you know, we're not going to
cut back trash pick up, we're not going to take
officers off the street, We're not going to close rec
centers or libraries or reduce the hours. Those are the
things we really tried to protect. But certainly there were
places where you know, we'll have to make some some tightening,
(00:55):
and then you know, that's stuff we had to Obviously,
lay offs are always tough in departments places where we'll
do less with grand dollars that we did before. But
we think there are things that we can all survive
on and still even deliver even better government we did before.
And so really credit to the team and the department
heads who made those tough calls, and we think we're
a positioned to move forward with the really conservative, thoughtful
(01:16):
budget that we'll make sure we keep the budget balance
going into next year.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We spoke with Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez earlier
this week. He was very critical of the budget, saying
that you declined to give him four and a half
million dollars to his office, and as a result, he
says that this could threaten election integrity and possibly close
polling centers.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Or drop off boxes as a result. Is that true?
Is that the case?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Or are there concerns that elections won't be properly funded?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No, that's a ridiculous claim. What what the clerk doesn't
tell you was he was asking for a five million
dollar expansion of his budget in a year when everyone
else was taking cuts. So the total cut that clerk
would have had to meet it was two hundred thousand dollars.
His budget has grown by more than double the size
of the general fund budget the last five years, so
it's been ballooning. He made the city spend two million
(02:04):
dollars to rehab an entire facility for him, and he
then decided not to use, which is a waste of
taxpayer dollars. So he can literally balance that budget by
eliminating one of his one hundred VAC and ftees. So
I think that's it'd be easy. I could balance that
budget in fifteen seconds. You know, it's his, so he
gets to decide how to do it. If he needs help,
we can do it for him. But that's a very
easy budget to balance without impacting public services at all.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
A quick follow up, how would you describe your relationship
with Paul Lopez? Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
You know, like I respect Paul. He leads his independent organization.
He can he can do that work. Well, we're looking
for folks that are going to be partners in tough times.
We saw all the other agencies step up to do that,
the District Attorney, the courts, the public defenders, they all said,
we understand these are difficult times. We got to step
up and lead and we expect all leaders to do that.
Some do, some don't.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Do you feel that the city Council sees eye to
eye with your budget or do you think there will
be some changes or some sticking points with it.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
You know, we work closely with them on this. We've
been briefing. We've had three different rounds of private briefings,
we've had pre rounds of public briefings already. We'll do
forty hours of briefings with them next week. But you know,
the council sends us a letter in advance of what
their top priorities of the budget are, so we knew
all along and we worked really hard to deliver on
their priorities as well. So of the twenty nine priorities
they laid out, I think this budget funds twenty six
(03:19):
of the twenty nine. So we think this is a
set of shared priorities that we have in the council
has and council understands. We all love to have more
resources to do more with, but they know you got
to make hard decisions at hard times, and we think
they'll have the leadership to do that.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I know you're well aware of this, but there's probably
what about a dozen lawsuits about you, about these folks
losing jobs. We had a chance to catch up with
the lawyer representing Jessica called her own one of those
city employees and assuing the city, claiming she's excuing the city,
claiming it was due to retaliation to her ongoing lawsuit. Now,
a federal judges issued a temporary restraining order blocking the termination.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What's your reaction to that.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, that's just a regular part of the process where
the judge will ask for more information. All of these
decisions were approved by our city, our knee, and by
our human resources department. More one hundred and seventy A
handful of folks have appealed, But I think we're entirely
confident once the facts are out here, any reasonable judge
will side with ess will prevail in this case. So
we're optimistic that we know these were made legally and
(04:13):
for the right decisions, and we're confident that any judge
will support that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
If the judge doesn't support it, what's the likelihood or
is there the possibility of some of these city employees
being reinstated and then.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Going back to the drawing board when it comes to
the budget deficit.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
No, We don't anticipate that happening, and we were confident
that we've done everything we can to approach this appropriately
and if that happens, will appeal. There's certainly options for
appeal on those decisions, but we think this is entirely
within the power of an executive to make decisions. You
can't expect an executive not to be able to balance
the budget. It would force an unconstitutional budget deficit that
(04:50):
the city couldn't maintain. And so that's our job, and
that's what we did, and we did it fairly.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Probably not the right phrase, but are we kind of
out of the woods with this or at least do
you feel like this is a good course correction moving forward?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah? I think that's what's important, is this is a
course correction. You know what I say. It's like if
every month you're pulling out of your savings account to
pay your mortgage. You know your family's not balanced, right,
and so you got actually cut down on some costs
until you know that those are trued up each month
and you can pay your bills out of your income.
And so we had to write size the city. The
(05:20):
benefit is, you know we've done that, We've made some
hard decisions, but we're going to continue to provide public
services and we're projecting just zero percent growth next year.
If the city stays at zero percent growth or anything
above that, anything short of over session, we won't need
to come back and do cuts again or layoffs or furloughs.
And so that's what we really wanted, was to provide
some stability for the city, for our employees so we
(05:41):
can really focus on delivering services for the residents. And
we think we had to make those hard decisions to
do that. Anything less than that would have been irresponsible,
because you just set yourself up to be back in
these situations over and over again. So we think this
was an important step, but the right one, and now
we can get back to the important work of serving
the city.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We'll let you off on this, mister rayor leverage call
last week Broncos game, what's your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Horrendous? You can tell me the last time a game
was decided on a leverage call. I'll concede through it.
But yeah, I think so many unfortunate unforced airs and
down the stretch to that. You know, I love the
way that the team rallied at the end, but I'm
really looking forward to a win this Sunday. I will
say for folks that are following too, I mean, if
you've seen some of the other stadium deals we talked
(06:24):
about this last week, but you might have seen this week.
You know, the commanders in DC announced the new stadium
taxpayers and DC are going to pay a billion dollars
of taxpayer money for that. Same with the Brown Stadium
where they're going to pay I think half a billion dollars.
And so I think for Denver taxpayers hope they're seeing
the more and more of these deals they see coming
through that Denver really has a uniquely great deal here
to both build a brand new stadium without a single
(06:45):
taxpayer dollars. So we feel like our deal looks better
and better each day and really excited for the future
of the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Ever, Mayor Mike Johnson, thank you thanks for having me.
Now on Colorado's Morning News.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Working to close a two hundred million dollar budget gap,
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, unveiled has proposed twenty twenty six
city budget this week, totally one point sixty six billion dollars.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
There was a five five point eight percent reduction in
spending as significant budget cuts have been made across city departments,
but the mayor says not two core services and joining
us now in the KAE Comment Spirit of Health hotline
is Mayor Johnston, Mister Mayor, appreciate our Friday conversations. Was
there anything in particular that was a little more difficult
to cut, say, than something else?
Speaker 4 (00:32):
I mean, they were, you know, they're all hard decisions,
but I think what we tried to focus on was
really making sure the most important course services were protected.
So as you said, you know, we're not going to
cut back trash pick up, we're not going to take
officers off the street, We're not going to close rec
centers or libraries or reduce the hours. Those are the
things we really tried to protect. But certainly there were
places where you know, we'll have to make some some tightening,
(00:55):
and then you know, that's stuff we had to Obviously,
lay offs are always tough in departments places where we'll
do less with grand dollars that we did before. But
we think there are things that we can all survive
on and still even deliver even better government we did before.
And so really credit to the team and the department
heads who made those tough calls, and we think we're
a positioned to move forward with the really conservative, thoughtful
(01:16):
budget that we'll make sure we keep the budget balance
going into next year.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We spoke with Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez earlier
this week. He was very critical of the budget, saying
that you declined to give him four and a half
million dollars to his office, and as a result, he
says that this could threaten election integrity and possibly close
polling centers.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Or drop off boxes as a result. Is that true?
Is that the case?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Or are there concerns that elections won't be properly funded?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No, that's a ridiculous claim. What what the clerk doesn't
tell you was he was asking for a five million
dollar expansion of his budget in a year when everyone
else was taking cuts. So the total cut that clerk
would have had to meet it was two hundred thousand dollars.
His budget has grown by more than double the size
of the general fund budget the last five years, so
it's been ballooning. He made the city spend two million
(02:04):
dollars to rehab an entire facility for him, and he
then decided not to use, which is a waste of
taxpayer dollars. So he can literally balance that budget by
eliminating one of his one hundred VAC and ftees. So
I think that's it'd be easy. I could balance that
budget in fifteen seconds. You know, it's his, so he
gets to decide how to do it. If he needs help,
we can do it for him. But that's a very
easy budget to balance without impacting public services at all.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
A quick follow up, how would you describe your relationship
with Paul Lopez? Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
You know, like I respect Paul. He leads his independent organization.
He can he can do that work. Well, we're looking
for folks that are going to be partners in tough times.
We saw all the other agencies step up to do that,
the District Attorney, the courts, the public defenders, they all said,
we understand these are difficult times. We got to step
up and lead and we expect all leaders to do that.
Some do, some don't.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Do you feel that the city Council sees eye to
eye with your budget or do you think there will
be some changes or some sticking points with it.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
You know, we work closely with them on this. We've
been briefing. We've had three different rounds of private briefings,
we've had pre rounds of public briefings already. We'll do
forty hours of briefings with them next week. But you know,
the council sends us a letter in advance of what
their top priorities of the budget are, so we knew
all along and we worked really hard to deliver on
their priorities as well. So of the twenty nine priorities
they laid out, I think this budget funds twenty six
(03:19):
of the twenty nine. So we think this is a
set of shared priorities that we have in the council
has and council understands. We all love to have more
resources to do more with, but they know you got
to make hard decisions at hard times, and we think
they'll have the leadership to do that.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I know you're well aware of this, but there's probably
what about a dozen lawsuits about you, about these folks
losing jobs. We had a chance to catch up with
the lawyer representing Jessica called her own one of those
city employees and assuing the city, claiming she's excuing the city,
claiming it was due to retaliation to her ongoing lawsuit. Now,
a federal judges issued a temporary restraining order blocking the termination.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What's your reaction to that.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, that's just a regular part of the process where
the judge will ask for more information. All of these
decisions were approved by our city, our knee, and by
our human resources department. More one hundred and seventy A
handful of folks have appealed, But I think we're entirely
confident once the facts are out here, any reasonable judge
will side with ess will prevail in this case. So
we're optimistic that we know these were made legally and
(04:13):
for the right decisions, and we're confident that any judge
will support that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
If the judge doesn't support it, what's the likelihood or
is there the possibility of some of these city employees
being reinstated and then.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Going back to the drawing board when it comes to
the budget deficit.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
No, We don't anticipate that happening, and we were confident
that we've done everything we can to approach this appropriately
and if that happens, will appeal. There's certainly options for
appeal on those decisions, but we think this is entirely
within the power of an executive to make decisions. You
can't expect an executive not to be able to balance
the budget. It would force an unconstitutional budget deficit that
(04:50):
the city couldn't maintain. And so that's our job, and
that's what we did, and we did it fairly.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Probably not the right phrase, but are we kind of
out of the woods with this or at least do
you feel like this is a good course correction moving forward?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah? I think that's what's important, is this is a
course correction. You know what I say. It's like if
every month you're pulling out of your savings account to
pay your mortgage. You know your family's not balanced, right,
and so you got actually cut down on some costs
until you know that those are trued up each month
and you can pay your bills out of your income.
And so we had to write size the city. The
(05:20):
benefit is, you know we've done that, We've made some
hard decisions, but we're going to continue to provide public
services and we're projecting just zero percent growth next year.
If the city stays at zero percent growth or anything
above that, anything short of over session, we won't need
to come back and do cuts again or layoffs or furloughs.
And so that's what we really wanted, was to provide
some stability for the city, for our employees so we
(05:41):
can really focus on delivering services for the residents. And
we think we had to make those hard decisions to
do that. Anything less than that would have been irresponsible,
because you just set yourself up to be back in
these situations over and over again. So we think this
was an important step, but the right one, and now
we can get back to the important work of serving
the city.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We'll let you off on this, mister rayor leverage call
last week Broncos game, what's your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Horrendous? You can tell me the last time a game
was decided on a leverage call. I'll concede through it.
But yeah, I think so many unfortunate unforced airs and
down the stretch to that. You know, I love the
way that the team rallied at the end, but I'm
really looking forward to a win this Sunday. I will
say for folks that are following too, I mean, if
you've seen some of the other stadium deals we talked
(06:24):
about this last week, but you might have seen this week.
You know, the commanders in DC announced the new stadium
taxpayers and DC are going to pay a billion dollars
of taxpayer money for that. Same with the Brown Stadium
where they're going to pay I think half a billion dollars.
And so I think for Denver taxpayers hope they're seeing
the more and more of these deals they see coming
through that Denver really has a uniquely great deal here
to both build a brand new stadium without a single
(06:45):
taxpayer dollars. So we feel like our deal looks better
and better each day and really excited for the future
of the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Ever, Mayor Mike Johnson, thank you thanks for having me.
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