Denver sheriff presents roughly $181 million 2026 budget, shrinks civilian ranks while pledging to maintain mental‑health coverage

Sheriff Diggins delivered the Denver Sheriff Department’s 2026 budget presentation to the Denver City Council on day two of the city’s budget‑week hearings, asking the council to approve about $181 million in total funding while eliminating a number of vacant civilian positions to meet reduction targets.

The budget, as presented, includes about $174 million from the general fund, $3.4 million from special revenue and about $3.8 million in grants for a combined total of roughly $181 million. Department leadership said most of the budget is personnel expense and that uniform staffing is held flat at 845 funded positions while professional (civilian) staffing would be budgeted at about 153.75 FTEs.

The sheriff framed the proposal as preserving core custody and public‑safety functions while shifting where some work is done. “The mission of the Denver Sheriff’s Department has not changed. It’s to provide a safe and secure environment for the people that are in our custody and to be responsive to the community that we serve,” Sheriff Diggins said.

Why it matters: Council members repeatedly pressed the department on whether cuts to civilian roles and vacancy savings would force more overtime, degrade services such as records processing and food delivery, or reduce mental‑health and reentry programming for people in custody. Department leaders said they expect to rely more on overtime and partnerships to avoid layoffs and to preserve immediate crisis coverage.

Key budget and staffing details

- Total proposed budget: about $181,000,000 (general fund $174,000,000; special revenue $3,400,000; grants $3,800,000). - Funded uniform staffing: 845 FTEs (department said uniform staffing remains at the current funded level). - Professional/civilian staff funded: ~153.75 FTEs. - Proposed reductions described in the presentation: elimination of 58 community security assistant (CSA) positions (budgeted savings $5,600,000), elimination of 3 on‑call positions ($151,000), vacancy savings of $1,900,000 tied to unfilled uniform positions, and an increase of $500,000 for proposed security equipment and technology. The department described a total reduction of about 61 FTEs across divisions when counting specific adjustments.

Department leaders and council members contrasted “funded” positions and current staffing: the sheriff said uniform staffing sits at about 61% of authorized strength after a multi‑year rebuild from a low of 54%, and the department is budgeting for recruitment classes next year to add deputies. The administration acknowledged significant overtime already in use and said vacancy savings calculations incorporate projected overtime costs.

Mental health services and programs

The presentation noted cuts in the Mental Health and Programs Division for 2025–26, but department leaders emphasized continued crisis response. “We do have the crisis response team who provides services for individuals in our custody, not only to deescalate, but also to prevent crises from beginning,” said Dr. Nikki Johnson, chief of mental health services for the Denver Sheriff Department. She said the department expects to maintain seven‑day coverage at both facilities despite reductions of several vacant clinician positions and relies on Denver Health behavioral‑health staff as an operational partner.

Officials said the two organizations have complementary roles: Denver Health provides an on‑site behavioral health team (the presentation said roughly 60 people work on that team) and the sheriff’s office provides internal clinicians. When asked whether caseloads or frequency of contacts would change, Dr. Johnson and the department said they would provide more specific caseload figures to council members after the hearing.

Programming and reentry

The budget book entries cited reductions to some inmate programming lines and the department said the functions done by programs staff are broad and include GED classes, sober‑living support and other reentry services. Rachel Swalley, the department’s director of programs, said program staff typically cover a range of activities and that it is not possible from the summary pages alone to specify which single program would be cut when an FTE is removed.

Visitation and contraband

The department has restored in‑person visitation at its jails. Sheriff Diggins said visitation is expanding and that the department requires every in‑person visitor to pass through a body scanner before entering housing units. When asked whether visitation had led to more contraband, Diggins replied, “No evidence. In fact… we make sure that every single person that comes in for an in person visitation goes through our body scanner before they go back to the housing unit.” (The vendor name for body‑worn cameras and related technology was clarified by the department as Axon.)

Recidivism and outcomes

Council members pressed the department on recidivism measures. The department said its budget book defines recidivism as a new Denver Sheriff Department booking within one year of the person’s last DSD incarceration. That definition differs from older reports; the presentation noted a historic figure of 41% in 2016 used a different counting method, while the present metric reported in the budget book was about 15% under the current definition. The department said it would follow up with comparative data and external metrics.

Civil duties and evictions

The sheriff confirmed the department’s civil unit executes court‑ordered writs of restitution (evictions) under the Colorado Constitution. He said nine deputies staff civil functions; council members requested counts of eviction actions year‑to‑date and year‑over‑year for follow‑up.

Contracts and grants

The presentation listed major contracts and grants the department relies on: an annualized contract with Denver Health and Hospital Authority (presented as about $27,000,000), food services with Trinity, security systems with Sierra Detention Systems, phone and video services with Securus Technologies, and body‑worn cameras and taser systems through Axon. Major grants cited included jail behavioral health support and MAT funding, plus several smaller community and reentry grants.

Council reaction and next steps

Council members from multiple districts thanked the sheriff’s staff for daily service while pressing for more detail about workload, overtime costs and how vacancy savings were calculated. Shanae Cummings, chief financial officer for the Department of Public Safety, said the $1.9 million in vacancy savings represents a calculation that mixes FTE reductions and offsetting overtime and that staff would provide further breakout data, including the number of FTEs that figure represents and the overtime cost implications.

Mayor Mike Johnson and executive staff acknowledged the tension between asking departments to “do less but do it better” and the need to add deputy capacity; the administration said it is budgeting for three recruit classes in 2026 to add deputy personnel. Council members were invited to submit follow‑up questions to receive the department’s more detailed data on staffing, caseloads, specific program impacts and overtime costs.

Proposition 130 funding update

City staff briefed council members that a statewide ballot measure referenced earlier in hearings will not provide funds to the city in 2026. The presentation said the legislation delays distributions until 2027 and then spreads smaller allocations over more years; staff estimated Denver’s share could be about $1–1.5 million per year starting in 2027, with $0 available for 2026.

The council requested additional, itemized follow‑up information on several points, including exact retention rates for recent recruit classes, caseload figures for mental‑health clinicians, counts of eviction executions, and a detailed breakdown of vacancy‑savings calculations and overtime costs. The hearing closed with staff agreeing to provide those figures for subsequent review.