Aurora development services outlines 2026 budget with staff cuts, rising projects and demolition funding shifts

Chief Development Services Officer John Curley presented the city of Aurora’s proposed 2026 Development Services budget to the finance committee on Oct. 28, saying the department’s topline reflects a 17.4% year-over-year reduction largely because the mayor’s office of economic development has been moved out of the department.

Curley said year-to-date revenues exceed expenses by about $1.8 million and that anticipated 2026 revenue remains strong because several large commercial projects and ongoing developments are expected to continue into next year. “We’ve got several larger developments and existing developments that will be continuing into next year,” Curley said.

The budget proposal includes several position decrements: the removal of an unfilled CSR in development services administration; a plan examiner and a fire inspector in the building and permits division; an assistant director for property standards; and a seasonal position. Curley said the department plans to mitigate service impacts through promotions and cross-training, including upgrading an existing building inspector to a combination inspector to cover fire-inspection duties.

Curley highlighted active commercial work in 2025 — naming downtown remodels, hotel and restaurant projects and data-center activity — and reported residential production of 262 new single-family units year-to-date, with 728 single-family/townhome units platted and 534 multifamily units underway.

On customer service, Curley credited process changes for moving roughly half of rental-license renewals online in 2025 and for shifting about 20% of peak monthly workload into earlier months. He said those changes helped reduce overtime by approximately 70% and improved customer wait times.

A substantial decrease in the demolition line item drew committee questions: the demolition budget fell from about $572,000 in 2025 to $100,000 in the 2026 proposal. Curley explained the change reflects use of an Ida grant that is being spent down and that some demolitions are funded by the grant while others — including court-ordered demolitions after years of violations — have been covered from the same line when not eligible for grant reimbursement.

Interim property-standards director Josh Alkrest told the committee there are three buildings currently undergoing demolition, and estimated per-demolition costs near $130,000–$140,000.

On zoning and planning, Curley and Tracy Vasek, director of zoning and planning, described two decision packages: funding for a court reporter to capture planning and zoning meeting minutes (the city proposes to recoup that cost through development fees once fees are adopted) and upgrading a vacant senior planner role to a zoning administrator to take on long-range planning duties returning to the department.

Curley also outlined long-range planning priorities for 2026: a nonconforming residential lots project, possible changes to school and park impact fees, RFP/RFQs for city-owned assets through a divestment process and consideration of the data-center moratorium.

The committee exchanged several follow-up questions about enforcement staffing and whether alternative shifts or weekend enforcement are feasible under current bargaining agreements; Curley and staff said alternative schedules exist in contract language but would require bargaining to change operational coverage. Curley and interim staff emphasized the department’s intent to leverage technology and manager-level coverage to maintain predictable services despite the small number of managerial decrements.

The finance committee then moved on to the Information Technology presentation.