The Denver City Council ceremoniously rejected the city’s new budget for 2026 on Monday, with several members citing concerns over transparency from the mayor’s office as the reason they voted no.
The budget will still be enacted, however, because of deadlines and provisions in the city’s charter.
The vote was split 6-6, but any proposal before the council that results in a tie vote automatically fails. Most members who voted against the budget said they found the monthslong process, which is spearheaded by Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, frustrating.
“Collaboration requires honesty,” Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez said. “And at this point, there are still unanswered questions and unresolved concerns that I cannot overlook.”
The $1.66 billion general fund budget, which is decreasing about 6% from this year’s spending, is part of an overall budget of $5.4 billion. Before proposing the budget, the mayor’s administration laid off 169 employees and eliminated hundreds of vacant positions to help close a $200 million gap.
The council’s dynamic with Johnston’s office has gotten increasingly tense in recent months, making Monday’s vote the latest chip in their relationship. Last week, the council considered 27 amendments to the budget — the most ever proposed in recent history. It approved 10 and the mayor agreed Friday to accept all of them.
The city charter says a budget not passed by the council will take effect with any fully passed amendments.
Monday’s vote appears to be the first time the council has rejected a budget in recent memory. A spokesman for the council said he wasn’t sure if the council had ever rejected a budget. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said the council had rejected the budget “many times” but didn’t say exactly when.
An article in the Rocky Mountain News from 1986 reported the council rejecting then-Mayor Federico Peña’s proposed budget for 1987.
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The mayor’s office sent a news release announcing the formal adoption of the budget but didn’t address the vote or the comments from council members.
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