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Council orders publication of supplemental appropriation after questioning city overtime and separation payouts
Summary
Council moved to publish a supplemental appropriation ordinance that includes approximately $11 million in supplemental appropriations; council members pressed city staff for detailed DPD overtime data and questioned separation payouts related to recent workforce actions.
Denver City Council on Monday ordered publication of a supplemental appropriation ordinance that includes funding for unbudgeted expenses and an $11 million supplemental request, prompting detailed questioning about Denver Police Department overtime and separation payouts.
Councilmember Parody raised concerns that DPD overtime hours appear to have increased markedly between 2021 and 2024 even as major crime and 911 calls fell, and asked why downtown patrol costs were appearing in the city's request rather than being covered by outside partners. "It looks like our overtime hours for DPD have gone up by, like, a third, between 2021 and 2024," Parody said, asking for overtime-hour breakdowns tied to listed events.
Shanae Cummings, chief financial officer for the Department of Public Safety, replied that overtime is budgeted as a consolidated dollar amount and that the $11 million supplemental includes roughly $7.5 million in overtime already used and $3.5 million in separation payouts for staff who left the department. "We budget the overall dollar amount... so we don't have a specific amount that is budgeted for protest activity or other events," Cummings said.
Budget Management Office Director Justin Sykes later told council that severance and separation payouts are one-time costs and that the city expects to include unemployment projections in the 2026 budget. Sykes also clarified that some earlier public descriptions of savings (for example, from furloughs) did not equate to the severance figures questioned by members.
Council ordered Council Bill 18-91 published; the clerk announced the roll call outcome. Members asked for follow-up materials, including event-attribution overtime hours and a clearer accounting of separation and unemployment projections into 2026.
What happens next: Budget staff said they will provide more detailed overtime-hour attribution and separation-payout breakdowns to council in advance of next week’s meeting.
