Tag: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston
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Denver council rejects 2026 budget, but mayor’s $1.66B spending plan will still govern operations
The Denver City Council rejected Mayor Mike Johnston’s $1.66 billion spending plan, but the proposal, as amended, will still govern operations, as the charter requires the city to have a budget in place by Nov. 12. In a split 6-6 vote on Monday, councilmembers expressed disappointment with various aspects of the budget process, citing its…
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Denver mayor agrees to council’s 2026 budget amendments
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced he will not exercise his veto authority and has accepted all 10 of the Denver City Council’s amendments to his proposed 2026 spending plan. As a result, the $1.66 billion budget, as amended, will now become the city’s official budget for the coming year, according to Johnston’s office, which issued…
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Denver Civil Service whistleblower sues city citing retaliatory firing
The former executive director of Denver’s Civil Service Commission, Niecy Murray, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging she was fired in retaliation for speaking publicly about the lowering of standards for new police academy recruits. “My decision to file this lawsuit was not made lightly,” Murray said in a statement issued by her attorney…
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Anger grows as Denver mayor extends Flock camera contract
Inside a modest equipment rental building in north Denver, close to 700 people gathered for a community town hall on Wednesday evening to call for Mayor Mike Johnston to turn off the city’s 111 Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras. Just hours before the meeting, Johnston announced that the city would extend its contract with the…
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Denver mayor extends Flock camera contract against council’s wishes
Just hours before a community town hall where critics were expected to push for Denver to immediately suspend the use of its Flock Safety license plate reading cameras, Mayor Mike Johnston announced on Wednesday that the city would be extending its contract with the Atlanta-based technology company. That extension would come at no cost to…
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Denver City Council moves forward with collective bargaining ordinance
Members of the city’s Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to advance a required ordinance implementing and clarifying collective bargaining rights for certain city employees. Last year, more than 64% of voters approved a ballot measure that establishes collective bargaining for non-supervisory city employees to negotiate compensation, working conditions, and other employment terms.…
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Denver joins suit against Trump administration claiming grants have unlawful conditions
Denver has joined Chicago, New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Haven, Minneapolis and St. Paul in suing the Trump administration over what they claim are unlawful conditions imposed on federal grant funding. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in Illinois, “aims to prevent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management…
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Denver mayor’s revised budget: $4 million in funding additions
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has returned his amended 2026 spending plan back to the City Council for review, leveraging $4 million in interest from American Rescue Plan Act funds to address 11 of the council’s 16 proposed additions. The addition now brings the proposed city spending plan to $1.664 million. Along with added funding for…
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Denver joins in support of Planned Parenthood funding lawsuit
The City and County of Denver has joined dozens of other cities, counties and local governments in filing an amicus brief in support of Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit challenging funding cuts in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, according to a statement from Mayor Mike Johnston’s office on Wednesday. An amicus brief is a document filed by…
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Denver’s $1 billion bond campaign faces ethics complaint
A group that is seeking to push back on government debt argued that big dollars are rolling in from funders supporting Mayor Mike Johnston’s $1 billion debt package and alleged some of those contributions may be legally prohibited. The group said the contributors included entities that receive taxpayer funding, questioning whether public money is going…