6 westword.com WESTWORD SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2025 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | The Numbers Game THE DENVER MAYOR’S LAYOFF REPORT DID NOT INCLUDE 71 POSITIONS FROZEN OR CUT FROM THE CITY’S INDEPENDENT AGENCIES AND DEPARTMENTS. BY HANNAH METZGER Last month, 169 city employees were laid off and over 600 open positions were elimi- nated in the City of Denver’s largest layoff since the Great Recession. But the impacts expand even beyond those numbers. At least 71 additional positions were lost across the city’s independent agencies, such as the Auditor’s Offi ce, and independent government branches, like Denver County Court. Since these institutions are not under the direct control of Mayor Mike Johnston, the cuts are not featured in his offi ce’s widely reported city department layoff count. However, many of the excluded agencies say they made staffi ng cuts after Johnston asked them to reduce their budgets for 2026 to help address the city’s projected $200 million budget defi cit. The 71 affected positions include twelve layoffs, 39 hiring freezes, nine eliminations of open positions, and eleven eliminations of fi lled positions via resignations, retirements, transfers or consolidations, according to num- bers provided to Westword by each agency. Denver County Court accounts for the bulk of the losses, reporting a reduction of thirty positions after it was asked to cut its budget by $3.2 million for 2026. Ten employ- ees were laid off, eleven vacant positions were eliminated or frozen, and nine fi lled positions were eliminated following rede- ployments, retirements and resignations. The court permanently closed its Parking Magistrate’s Offi ce on August 27 as a result of the layoffs, according to court spokesperson Carolyn Tyler. The offi ce was responsible for resolving disputed parking citations. “The citation dispute process is an ad- ministrative one, not a judicial one, and the court must focus on core judicial functions,” Tyler says. “As such, the decision was made to eliminate our involvement in the admin- istrative dispute process and fi ve employees were laid off from the PMO.” The court also laid off one deputy court ex- ecutive, two Driving Under Restraint naviga- tors, and two employees from its Forensic Peer Navigator program, cutting the program’s staff roughly in half. Just two months ago, the program was highlighted in a Denverite article for employing people who have experienced homelessness and addic- tion to support individuals in the justice system, us- ing their lived experience to help guide them out of destructive cycles. Some of the indepen- dent agencies have much smaller workforces than city departments, so any loss of employees is felt deeply. Up until 2023, Executive Director Lori Weiser was the only full-time employee of the Board of Ethics, tasked with administer- ing the city’s ethics code that regulates government employees and officials. Weiser successfully lobbied to add a second employee two years ago; that staff assistant position became vacant in March. Then news of the budget cuts broke. “I geared up to rehire and completed interviews right before the budget cuts were announced,” Weiser says. “Because I have a small budget, mainly salaries, I couldn’t hire or offer at the posted position. So we had to repost for a lower-paying position.” The Civil Service Commission laid off two employees as a result of the projected 2026 budget cuts: two HR data analysts, says Executive Director Gracie Perez. The commission — which oversees testing for hiring and promoting Denver police and fi refi ghters — also eliminated six vacant HR data analyst positions and froze hiring for one vacant HR manager position. “The Civil Service Commission approached the 2026 budget with a focus on prioritizing our most essential services while meeting the required budget reduction and ensur- ing funding for entry-level and promotional hiring processes for Denver Fire and Police Departments, as mandated by City Charter and Commission Rules,” Perez explains. The agency has only eleven full-time staff and thirteen on-call investigations technicians. Budget Battle The city’s budget for the 2026 fi scal year is not yet fi nalized. Mayor Johnston pre- sented his proposal to Denver City Council on September 15, starting a lengthy review process that will include budget hearings and council recommendations. The fi nal budget is due in November. The city is facing a $50 million budget shortfall for 2025 and a projected $200 million defi cit for 2026. Johnston rolled out furloughs, hiring freezes and layoffs throughout the summer to help address the gap, which offi cials have attributed to the city’s growing expenses, slowing revenue and dwindling savings account. Johnston initially asked each of the city’s independent agencies to reduce their bud- gets by 5 percent for 2026, according to mayoral spokesperson Jon Ewing. “The current economic outlook has forced all of us to make sacrifi ces,” he says. This decision has been criticized by some, including Denver Clerk & Recorder Paul López, who told Colorado Politics that John- ston is trying to “raid” the budgets of inde- pendent agencies. López reportedly claimed this is the fi rst time he has seen a mayor do such a thing in his eighteen-year city career. “The mayor asked us to cut this year’s budget by 5 percent even though we have twice as many elections to conduct next year,” says Ben Warwick, spokesperson for the Clerk & Recorder’s Offi ce, which ad- ministers elections in addition to managing campaign fi nance, public records, access to marriage licenses and various other duties. Ewing says city staff from the Department of Finance and the Mayor’s Offi ce worked with some independent agencies “to iden- tify areas where budgets could be reduced without signifi cant impact.” He claims López refused to participate in such a collaboration. “This process worked very successfully for other city departments, including inde- pendent agencies,” Ewing says. “We believe we could have helped identify ways to save money. For instance, we would have rec- ommended that he use space at the Webb Municipal Building that we spent $2 million to renovate at his request last year, only to be told after the fact by the Clerk that his needs had changed.” Warwick says the Clerk & Recorder’s Of- fi ce had already cut its budget by $1 million for 2025, which required staff eliminations, reallocations and hiring freezes. The offi ce of 69 employees has reduced its staff by two full-time positions since last year, with ad- ditional positions being combined. “We have held multiple positions open for months to create vacancy savings and currently have multiple critical roles unfi lled,” Warwick adds. “We also took furlough days in solidarity with all other city employees to create nearly $100,000 in savings. We currently have three positions the mayor’s offi ce has frozen and won’t allow us to hire.” The budget constraints forced the Office of the Independent Monitor to eliminate an unfi lled dep- uty monitor position that was approved in 2023 be- cause of the offi ce’s work- load increase. While it has not conducted layoffs, the office had to implement “a signifi cant budget cut to the OIM’s Community Outreach and Youth Outreach Project,” says Independent Monitor Lisabeth Pérez Castle. The Denver District Attorney’s Offi ce is holding twelve positions vacant in 2026 and will continue furloughs “in order to maintain as much of our staffi ng as possible while addressing the reduced budget we will be receiving,” says spokesperson Matt Jablow. The Auditor’s Offi ce is freezing hiring for all open positions: nine full-time and three on-call. The Career Service Hearing Offi ce — a three-person agency — is freezing hiring for a fourth position of a law clerk. Another three-person agency, the Board of Adjustment, is not pursuing staffi ng changes due to the budget cuts as “it was deemed to have too signifi cant of an impact to our services,” says Austin Keithler, technical director of the board. Denver City Council, an independent branch of government, is participating in furloughs, but “any additional cuts would signifi cantly impact our ability to operate and help our constituents,” says Bonita Ro- znos, executive director of the Offi ce of the City Council. “We want to assure the public that we remain fi scally responsible,” Roznos adds. “Over the last fi ve years, we have returned an average of $400,000 to the City’s Gen- eral Fund.” With the proposed budget now released, she notes, “we will revisit this decision once we have had time to review it.” The following institutions are listed as independent agencies in the city’s 2025 budget, but report that Denver’s budget cuts will have no impact on their staff or operations: the Denver International Air- port, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Denver Art Museum. The last remaining independent agency, the Offi ce of Municipal Public Defender, did not respond to inquiries from Westword. Email the author at [email protected]. NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS The City and County Building, home to the Denver County Court. HANNAH METZGER
