September 18, 2012 12:00 AM UTC

The Best Case for 2A? Current Budget Cuts.

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• by: Colorado Pols

Last week, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock unveiled his proposed budget for 2013, and with it, $94 million of cuts to the police department, libraries, and transportation infrastructure — in addition to five furlough days for city employees. It’s not as if he had any choice but to propose cuts, however: for the fifth year in a row, the city is mired in a steep revenue shortfall that can only be filled by trimming spending.

It’s a smart, balanced budget. Services have been drawn back, of course, but Hancock’s once-nebulous “Peak Performance” initiative is paying off, as strategic cuts have been made throughout the city to eliminate redundant expenditures and to enable current employees to work more broadly.

Beyond the numbers, Hancock smartly used this particular budget to advocate for the de-Brucing measure facing voters this fall, emphasizing that, though the city is capable of doing more with less, Denver would be able to do a lot more if it were’t required to return revenue to the taxpayers.

From Hancock:

While my 2013 budget proposal is balanced, it does not reflect the great city I know Denver can be. These short-term measures are not long-term solutions.  For this reason, I am asking voters in November for permission to retain revenue currently being returned to taxpayers because it exceeds TABOR-mandated limits.  If approved, this proposal – in conjunction with our efforts to operate the city more cost-effectively – would eliminate Denver’s budget deficit, allow us to recover more quickly from the recession and enable us to catch back up on essential services lost over the past four years.

Specifically, Measure 2A would allow us to catch back up on essential services in the following areas:

Public Safety ($4 million)

• Recruit 100 police officers and firefighters, something the city has not been able to do for four years.

• Replace and service the aging fleet of 1,000 police and fire vehicles, many of which have 175,000

miles or more on them.

Streets ($4 million)

• Repave 300 lane miles of city streets that are in the worst shape, many of them neighborhood streets

that have not been resurfaced in 20 years.

Libraries ($3 million)

• Restore and increase service at all library branches from an average of 32 hours a week to a minimum average of 48 hours a week.

Children ($7 million)

• Provide free access to city swimming pools and recreation centers to all school-aged children living in Denver.

• Restore and preserve child-care for 3,000 low-income children.

• Double the number of children served by afterschool and summer programs from 8,000 to 16,000.

Seniors/Disabled ($1 million)

• Increase the city’s property-tax payment credit from $186/year to $372/year for 4,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Economic Development & Job Creation ($500,000 minimum)

• Provide a focused, four-year exemption from the Business Personal Property Tax to companies that expand or add jobs.

• Double the city’s Business Incentive Fund from $500,000 a year to $1 million to bring new companies and new jobs to Denver.

Parks ($500,000)

• Begin a six-year effort to restore park maintenance and upkeep that has been cut by 30 percent due to the recession, including mowing, tree trimming, trash pickup and graffiti removal.

Other Services ($24 million)

• Eliminate furloughs for city employees.

• Restore city reserves to better protect against another economic downtown and maintain the city’s strong bond rating.

In submitting this budget proposal, Hancock is making the best possible case for voters to approve the 2A measure in November. He’s showing that his administration isn’t opposed to cutting down the size of government while at the same time declaring, poignantly, that Denver needs more money to deliver the level of services its people expect.

Denver needs more money to hire police officers. It needs more money to pave streets, to enable access to libraries, to provide child-care for low-income children, to beautify parks, and to create jobs.

In a political climate where complaints about big government are bandied about as often as accusations of socialism, Hancock’s bringing a powerfully simple message home to voters: the city needs more money to continue providing the services that directly impact lives and have made Denver a great place to live.

It’s the point he’s needed to make since taking office.