2024 Budget Recap
The following is a brief synopsis of some projects highlighted in Lakewood, Colorado’s 2024 budget discussions, including some apparent policies and assumptions residents may not know about.
Mill levy:
Council Member Janssen motioned for a reduction in the mill levy, a unique local government solution which would counteract some of the increase in Jefferson County property valuations. The Council majority agreed with city plans for the “windfall” of increased funds and argued that an individual resident’s return was not worth enough to consider. A counter-proposal for lesser reduction eventually passed that proponents lauded as revenue neutral. However, the revenue analysis was new information for Council and residents presented at the meeting. The result was misunderstandings in what revenue neutral meant; in this case, it meant budget neutral, or enough revenue to cover increased spending. Revenue still increased over the limit set in charter (see section 12.12).
There was also some debate regarding the accuracy of the projected revenues. Lakewood’s budget reflected an 11% increase in property valuations, although the actual increase was anticipated to be about double that. The city did not adjust that number so the revenue to the city may be greater than the budget reflected at the time of budget and mil levy certification.
The Finance Department reported that Lakewood is no longer following City Charter but rather they are following TABOR in relation to revenue caps. If true, this presents an opportunity for Lakewood to clean up existing conflicts.
RTD Bridge:
Council Member Olver highlighted an $800,000 line item to repair the lights for the RTD signature bridge crossing over 6th Avenue. The lights were originally an RTD responsibility. The majority of Council argued that people enjoyed the lights and that as the signature bridge, the City should complete RTD’s project. The financial officer said that keeping the budget line item could act as a placeholder if city staff were to delay the project or bring it back to the Council for approval. No motion was made to bring it to a later meeting for discussion, however the item did stay in the budget. (Note: another bridge, with similar budget and also in ward 4, will not be repaired for park users, despite 290 people signing a petition.)
Separated Bike Lanes:
$900,000 is budgeted for separated bike lanes. City Council has not discussed or approved this specific initiative before. Previous efforts to engage Council were ignored. During the budget meeting, the Council majority made references to approving what staff was planning, even without bringing it to public attention. Although there were arguments for/against the perceived benefits of the lanes, overall the argument was whether it was worth separated bikes lanes that don’t form a continuous path. Alternatives include focusing on connectivity, an alternative that city staff did not agree with. Separated bike lanes are not specifically mentioned in the 2018 Master Plan, however connectivity is. No discussion occurred about separate funding for this transportation system that is used by <1% of people as a daily mode of transportation. The 2018 Master Plan connectivity priorities appear abandoned and no updates are available on the status of the plan’s goals.
Dry Gulch:
Dry Gulch Improvements are a new project to address development that predates Lakewood. As the Public Works Director reports, the vast majority of $25 million will go towards this is ambitious project that is akin to the Army Corps of Engineers holding back the Mississippi. Dry Gulch was built on land that was already cleared and easy to develop because it was along the level land of the floodplain. Just like building on the Mississippi, or neighborhoods that were built on landslides, in the past those kinds of hazardous decisions were left to individual risk and responsibility. However, enough time has passed that owners have forgotten the decision to build in a natural hazard zone and they focus instead on the ability of government to raise money.
No economic business case was presented as to what returns the city anticipates as a result to these improvements, but there are some obvious reasons for the project, such as flooding “harms the local economy.” Like the separated bike lanes, this project is being treated more as a right than a business plan by the city, i.e. a giveaway rather than an investment.
This analysis is particularly important in light of the City Councilor arguments that a mil levy decrease is not “equitable” because only the people who have to pay property tax would benefit from a decrease. Many of the projects the City is involved with are not equitable, meaning that the certain segments of Lakewood will enjoy more benefits than others.
Sidewalks:
$5 million is budgeted for sidewalk improvements or creation. Some neighborhoods in Lakewood were developed with sidewalks in place. The cost of those sidewalks were included in the price of the home. Other neighborhoods were not developed with sidewalks, often at lesser cost to the home price. Today, residents only see the disparity that some neighborhoods have sidewalks while others don’t. Lakewood has adopted a city initiative to increase the number and connectivity of Lakewood, essentially having one neighborhood subsize another neighborhood’s sidewalks, while hopefully increasing the value of the neighborhood and city. (Note: see developer reimbursement agreements for more recent discussions on initial infrastructure costs). New sidewalk creation will triple over the next two years, at a two-year cost of $7 million from Capital Improvement Funds and an addition $2.8 million from TABOR funds.
Sustainability:
The biggest news for sustainability was $660,00 for charging stations to accommodate Lakewood’s change to an electric vehicle fleet. The number of charging stations will continue to increase and be available to the public. Lakewood is pursuing an aggressive sustainability agenda with individual projects being adopted through staff initiative rather than Council vote.
The Planning Department will also be adding two sustainability staff members and a Homeless Services Coordinator.
Parks:
Park spending came with an emphasis on how TABOR funds will be used to expand parks.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Without details, the Director gave notice that Parks will also start looking at condensing or efficiency operations that may include closing open space/parks/pools, public safety and recreation centers. (see September 18 meeting, 1hr 19 min). This will be an item for residents to watch closely. Closing centers has not been part of the public discussion yet, so it is not clear if this is a necessary item or will possibly be a future TABOR discussion.
An interesting sidenote: during the Belmar Park development discussions, residents found out that previous City Councils determined that Lakewood had enough parks and therefore provided options for developers to pay a fee instead of dedicating park land. TABOR funds were used to purchase 128.8 acres of new parkland, showing an average of $61,731/acre were spent. That price is about half of what Lakewood was charging developers in lieu of dedicating land. The parks process shows an opportunity for City Council to clean up conflicting ordinances; if Lakewood doesn’t need new parks, as per ordinance, then new purchases could be allowed only with increased justification.
Homeless:
Lakewood will develop a permanent extreme weather shelter. Definitions for “extreme” are already being blurred, with Council Member Franks asking about using for more days. This entire item is controversial, not only because of the undiscussed notion of enabling or protecting people, but because Lakewood will be converting existing buildings for use as a shelter, none of which were intended for this use. City Council had to approve a special suspension of the building codes they just passed or else the shelter would not be possible. This project highlights the expense of the new building codes and shows they aren’t really necessary.
Lakewood will also be the recipient of funds that will go to RecoveryWorks for them to build a new navigation center in Lakewood that has permanent and temporary resources for the homeless. Residents can get an idea of what sort of policies that project will entail by looking at current support policies. Lakewood has not had the public discussion of whether to offer supportive services more like Colorado Springs or more like Denver.
The City has budgeted $100,000 for encampment cleanup.
Maintenance Campus:
A new maintenance campus will cost $7 million over the next two years. This project will require land acquisition.
Discretionary Spending
Governments spend money on things their residents need or have a right to. For example, an administration building. Residents may argue on how fancy the building is, but no one argues that a building is necessary.
In contrast, many of the project detailed above are discretionary. For example, Lakewood already has the parks, but now is spending on improvements. Department heads highlighted the projects accomplished with TABOR funds. Lakewood does not break out discretionary spending per se, but this could be a useful distinction in future.
New projects were chosen based on city staff’s best guess as to what residents would like to see. All projects could be valuable additions to the city if they were accomplished as part of a long-term strategy. For example, does Lakewood plan on connecting to the surrounding areas with bike lanes in order to attract the bike community to live and work here? Or is the city trying to have a few picture-worthy lanes to virtue signal (which may attract the same people without increasing usability).
The Budget and Audit Board, made of three Council Members and three Lakewood residents. The meetings are not video-recorded and the sound in the room has not been updated. Unlike other meetings, residents have to CORA these audio-recordings.
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