Denver Mayor Mike Johnston wants voters to approve a borrowing program to pay for new parks, cultural centers and other “investments that bring joy” to Mile High City.

He didn’t say how much or identified which exact projects the borrowed money would pay for. Officials said that list will be created and refined — after city staffers have “engaged” communities.     

He dubbed the bond program “Vibrant Denver.”

Johnston on Wednesday announced the proposed new bond program of the yet-to-be-determined amount that would fund new public parks, recreation centers, libraries, arts and cultural venues, libraries, roads, and bridges, police stations and other public facilities, as well as pay for repairs and improvements to existing facilities.

While voters have been inclined to spend money on Denver’s bond issues, with projects ranging from new libraries to park improvements, they said no to a 2021 ballot initiative that called for $190 million in debt to build a new arena at the National Western Center. 

The mayor didn’t have a firm price tag for the proposed new debt, but suggested it would likely be similar to previous borrowing, with the final numbers to be determined by community feedback.

“Every decade or so, the city undergoes a process to evaluate what our capital needs are, and then to be able to issue a public bond to allow us to accelerate that process,” Johnston said. “We’ve recently updated what we have as our top priority of project lists across the city, and there are about $7 billion of priorities, but we only do about $300 million a year of capital investments.”

In 2017 and 2021, Denver voters approved two bond programs that directed funding to infrastructure.

“Elevate Denver” was a 10-year $937 million general obligation bond, and “RISE Denver” was a 5-year $260 million bond. 

More than 400 projects from the 2017 campaign have been launched, including improvements to 14 libraries, 50 parks and 22 rec centers, the mayor said. 

“Those projects will all be breaking ground by the end of this calendar year for completion by 2027, so we are on schedule for the last bond to be completed and wrapped up,” Johnston said. “So, I think this is the right time to start looking at the next set of investments for the city.”

Rather than a traditional 10-year cycle, Johnston’s new bond program will be an accelerated 6-year bond cycle. 

Denver voters can authorize general obligation bonds every 4-10 years, which are repaid through property taxes. Denver’s current bond programs are nearly complete, creating “capacity” for new projects, officials said.  

“As some of the old bonds roll off, we’ll have enough capacity to add on this new debt that we can pay off within a regular bond cycle without stretching our budget,” Johnston said.

The city’s total debt capacity is more than a billion dollars, he added.

“We know this is a time where a lot of folks in Denver are struggling, where people are working hard to make ends meet,” Johnston said. “We’re trying to be wary of not increasing costs at a time when folks are trying to manage those costs, so it’s very important to us and the council that these are key investments we can make with the city’s existing bonding capacity without increasing taxes.”

Over the next 90 to 120 days, city officials will gather community feedback through meetings and online surveys. Projects would be prioritized, and then when that list is finalized, they will be referred for inclusion on the November ballot.

Johnston said projects that are “shovel-ready” would receive top consideration.