Denver Human Services details roughly $50 million in reductions, program cuts and staff reassignments

Denver Human Services Director Anne Marie Braga told City Council members during a budget hearing that the department will reduce its operating budget to about $215 million and make program and staffing changes intended to close a gap created primarily by state and federal policy changes.

Braga said the department will protect its core assistance and protection services — food, medical, energy, child support, child welfare and adult protection — even as it implements reductions to administrative posts, contracts and some prevention programs. “We don’t receive any general fund dollars,” Director Anne Marie Braga said. “We do get the human services mill levy, but we are funded by state and federal dollars mainly.”

The cuts come after an internal nine‑month cost‑savings process that the department began in November, Braga said. The department identified about a 17–18 percent reduction across its prior budget through a combination of vacant positions, program consolidations, contract terminations and operational efficiencies. Chief Administrative Officer Clint Woodruff said the department’s plan reduces total staffing and spending: “We’re looking to reduce our budget down to a $215,000,000,” he said.

Braga and Woodruff said the department will attempt to preserve direct benefit delivery while trimming administrative and support roles. Among the largest program changes described in the presentation:

- Colorado Works/TANF case‑management contracts: DHS will end most TANF (Colorado Works) contracts that provided case management and supportive services. Woodruff said nine TANF contracts represented roughly $7 million in combined contract and supportive‑service expenditures and will be affected by the reductions. Those contracts were described as a major source of…