11-14-25 *INTERVIEW* Mayor of Denver Mike Johnston Talking Budget

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we've got Mayor Mike justin on with us
fashionably late, which is not fashionable here on the radio. Mike,
just for future reference, we're going to give you a
mull again this time.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Thanks. Sorry about that.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Another crisis growing, Okay, I actually I hope wasn't that
much of a crisis. We only have a couple of
minutes and I'm going to just turn it over to
Gina because I think she's got the questions that really
need to be asked in the short time that we have,
So go ahead, Gina.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, Mayor, we were just talking about the Hello, thank
you for joining us. So we were just talking about
that split six to six vote that we saw on
the one point six to six billion dollar budget for
next year, and the amendments were approved. I wondered if
you can elaborate a little bit more on how they
were approved with a split vote, But then also just
any concerns you have about maybe some council members being
skeptical of the budget if six people technically voted against it.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, the good news is the budget is passed, it's final,
it's balanced. We have a job as the city county
to make sure we balance the budget. We can't do
it government does and just debt borrow. So we got
to have a balanced budget and we have accepted gosh,
more than forty amendments at this point from council. They
had about twenty five recommendations on a first letter we met,
We about eleven in the second round, another about ten

(01:13):
in this third round, and so we've worked collaboratively to
get that across the finish line. Now it's done. The
council members know, as they shared that the way the
budget system works in the city is whether the council
votes for the budget or not it passes. That's the
mayoral budget system that we have, and so I think
in some ways it's a symbolic vote, but I think
what means functionally is everyone moves forward. Obviously, in tough

(01:34):
economic times, budgets are never easy, right, No one enjoys
cutting budgets, and so I don't think we took any
joy and having to make hard decisions to cut a
budget anymore than the family does. But your obligation as
a leader is to do that. So that's what we did.
We got those decisions done, the budget's balance, and now
we're excited to move forward and implement it. But you know,
I understand that people thought it was difficult. It's always
difficult to make it too hard economic times in the budget.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
A quick follow up on that, Mike, I just as.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Order.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I've never heard of a legislative kind of thing where
a tie vote means something passes. So I know you
said the budget itself passes no matter what. What about
those amendments. Do they pass six to six or is
it just a six to six symbolic vote on the
budget itself. But the amendments that you're talking about were
different votes, not six to six.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
You're exactly right. So the amendments are standalone votes. Though
all those all need a majority to pass, they passed.
I chose to accept them all. I could have vetoed,
I chose not to. I chose to accept all the amendments.
So those all pass. But the way the constitution is
written here in Denver to prevent us having what you
happen at the federal level, which is legislative body can't
reach a decision and you get a government shutdown, is
once the amendments are passed, the budget passes with or

(02:41):
without council support. So it could have been thirteen zero
against the budget. The budget still passes. That's in the constitution.
The amendments are voted on one by one and if
those are passed and not vetoed, digging on. But the
budget itself is required to go into effect as a
way to prevent what you get happening in DC, where
you get government shutdowns and people can't reach agreement. So
I think it's a very effective budget system we have
for taxpayers. But that's why the amendments get on. But

(03:04):
the budget vote is symbolic. It doesn't matter. It will
pass regardless of go bye by constitutional order.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Mister Mari, I want to ask you real quick about
the future stadium for Denver sum at FC. I do
know that a council committee delayed that vote of allocating
the fifty million dollars for infrastructure improvements. Some of the
council members actually cited reasonings of distrust towards the recent
flock camera camp contracts, the park kill landswap. What's your
overall thoughts of that. Are you concerned that the stadium

(03:29):
may not be completed in time?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
No, we're not concerned. I think the residents are overwhelmingly
in favor of this Our opening day at Mile High
is already going to be It looks like the largest
women's soccer sporting event in the NWSL. We have like
forty five thousand tickets already sold. It's more than twelve
thousand season ticket holders already for the stadium. We know
there's really broad based support from you know, every twelve
year old girl in the city who wants to see
their team play at home. And I think there's council

(03:55):
Serman has a project to ask more questions. We'll have
to get them more information, but we're very confident this
is going to move forward because the city is thrilled
about it, and so our job is to make sure
we can deliver on those projects. And we will get
that one done. And you know that is the nature
of being the executive of the city is you have
to make a lot of hard decisions day in and
day out. And we have continued to make those decisions transparent.

(04:18):
We've shared on present amounts information with counsel on this
budget process. We'll keep doing those things, but we're going
to keep moving forward and running the city. We're really
grateful we have, you know, about seventy percent of Dender
voters who came out and backed our bond measure, And
so we think people are excited about the momentum that
we have in the direction that we're heading, and we're
going to keep pushing forward.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Mike, one last question. I'm running late to give me
a really quick answer on this. It seems to me
like the hedge fund that owns the Denver Post is
trying to leverage the city into forcing you to let
them buy out their least for less rent than they
would otherwise, oh, by refusing to pay their rent. Now,
just give me a couple quick seconds on how you
see that situation.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
No, we expect them to pay their rent. They're a
massive hedge fund that owns two hundred buildings and two
hundred newspapers. They can pay their rent, and we're gonna
expect them to pay us.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Ever done, Mayor Mike Johnson of Denver, thanks so much
for joining us. Mike, look forward to talking to you
in future weeks, hopefully every week, and hopefully whatever crisis
you are dealing with this morning is solved. We really
appreciate your time.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Thanks for having me