Following a multi-hour Denver City Council hearing, Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed 2025 budget did not change Monday night. While Councilmembers Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez collectively sought 12 amendments, none were approved. Four were withdrawn.

An amendment brought forward by Parady sought to move the Street Engagement Team (SET) — the city’s camping ban enforcement team — out of the Department of Safety. Another, introduced by the three councilmembers who represent the progressive bloc of the council, sought to add $2.5 million from the general fund reserve to the Department of Housing Stability to pay for the Denver Basic Income Project.

The first discussed, seeking to move SET into HOST, was defeated in a 5-8 vote. Councilmembers Parady, Lewis, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Paul Kashmann and Stacie Gilmore voted in favor, with all remaining members opposed.

One opponent was Councilmember Darrell Watson, who asked his colleagues to exercise restraint when considering whether to move the team to a new agency. There is a place for SET at the health department, the Office of Neighborhood Safety and/or HOST, he said, adding the right time to have that discussion is before budget approval.

“I’m a no because as the city councilmember over District Nine, we had 600 souls living in encampments in the Ballpark and Five Points neighborhoods when I was first elected,” he said. “I worked with the street engagement team… And I saw the work of the team. My office saw and felt that work, the community, residents and small businesses felt that support and work.”

“So did the folks in the encampments, who were living in spaces that didn’t provide the dignity of shelter from the cold or the heat,” he added.

The city’s team used to be called the Street Enforcement Team when former Mayor Michael Hancock created it but was renamed to de-emphasize enforcement in the name. The city claims enforcement is not the team’s primary mission, despite being allowed to issue citations — which the city claims the team has never done.

However, the team and its practices have received criticism from the Housekeys Action Network of Denver, whose members accused the group of only being interested in moving people along rather than connecting them with services.

Group activists showed up in force at a public hearing last week demanding the team be disbanded. With the amendment failing, however, the team will remain active and within the Department of Public Safety.

Another amendment sought to pull $2.5 million from the city’s reserve fund balance and put it into the Department of Housing Stability’s general fund to pay for the Denver Basic Income Project.

Though the vote tied, six to six, Denver’s legislative rules stipulate that a tie is a fail.

The Basic Income Project, which Denver has consistently paid for year over year, found itself without money in 2025 after Mayor Johnston opted to cut funding for it amid a tight budget year. One councilmember, Kevin Flynn, said the data gathered by the project did not show enough success to justify paying for the project again.

Of the 807 participants in the project last year, only 400 continued to respond to surveys. Among the 400, about 180 were able to find permanent housing.

Compare that to the mayor’s efforts to address homelessness: Of more than 2,000 people sheltered, the city says 741, a little more than a third, have found permanent housing. Of course, the city also does not know the whereabouts of 100 others, 242 are back on the streets with no shelter and 54 are in jail.

“This amendment overlooks one salient fact and that is that the basic income project was not successful… I would support the project going forward with philanthropy, which is how it started, but I don’t think we should be throwing taxpayer dollars at this until it shows that the money is what made the difference,” Flynn said. “The thing that troubles me most about this is that the $2.5 million comes from our fund balance, which is already depleted below 15%.”

“This is something we should not do,” he said.

Denver likes to maintain a fund balance of 15% of the general fund. This allows the city flexibility when emergencies arise, such as the immigration crisis. However, the city is not allowed to fall below a 10% fund balance, barring “severe economic or other crisis,” according to city documents.

While next year’s proposed budget is larger than this year’s, the general fund only grew by about 0.6%. This is the lowest growth rate in 14 years, according to the mayor’s office.

Because no amendments were made, the mayor’s office does not need to send a new document to the council for review. However, the council will not vote on the final budget until Tuesday, Nov. 12.