New Migrant Budget Restores DMV and Rec Center Hours, Cuts Migrant Services

Mayor Mike Johnston announced a new $90 million migrant budget on Wednesday, April 10. It would offer fewer service to migrants and make internal city cuts to make the new budget work.

Instead of carving into city services that Denver residents use every day — like those offered at their nearby DMV or recreation center — the mayor is making"internal cost-saving measures" to scrape up $45.9 million. The mayor's administration has already come up with the remaining $44 million, he said, mostly thanks to a review of city coffers and some federal support. The internal cuts needed to come up with $45.9 million still have to be approved by City Council, however.

The Denver Police would have to wait until next year to get new furniture because of the cuts. New police recruits will graduate as planned, but the Denver International Airport would pay for one recruit class to help offset cuts to Denver Police Department. Since the City of Denver staffs DIA with police officers, the airport budget would"cover one of these classes this year," according to Swartz.

The city has already come up with the remaining $44 million, as well. Almost a third of that — $15 million — is coming out of a fund to remodel the Richard T. Castro building, a general office and public services center that houses more than 800 employees with the Department of Human Services, the agency leading the migrant response.

"Our goal isn't to spend $90 million this year," Swartz says."Our goal is to serve the people we need to serve., almost 41,000 migrants have arrived in Denver seeking to live off of city services, which is the most per capita than any other U.S. city, according the City of Denver. After April 10, however, the city will start sending newly arrived migrants to congregate shelters, where everyone sleeps in a large shared space instead of a hotel room; there won't be a cap on how many can stay. The remaining non-congregate site has a capacity of 800, but migrants there can stay until their length-of-stay period is up.

"The Asylum Seeker program is a program that will help folks apply for asylum, we will connect them to apartments, where they can live and support themselves," Johnston said."We'll connect them to food assistance, and over the course of six months, we'll connect them to a program called WorkReady Denver."

Migrant Migrants Migrant Crisis Migrant Shelter Dmv Rec Centers Denver Laura Swartz Denver Human Services

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