The city of Denver is considering reducing some public employees’ hours to zero due to impending budget cuts driven by the spiraling migrant crisis.
Denver is not explicitly using the term “layoffs” to describe the cost-cutting measure but is considering eliminating working hours entirely for some lifeguards and desk workers, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation told 9News on Monday.
“The reduction in hours of operation and programs will affect the number of hours worked by many on-call, some to the point where they may not receive any hours,” said Denver Parks and Recreation Director Jolon Clark.
“The final decisions on hours for any individual position have not been made yet.”
The department is planning on cutting $4.3 million from its budget to help Denver handle the significant financial strain caused by the migrant crisis. More than 36,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived in Denver since 2022 and roughly half of the new arrivals have put down roots in the city, according to the Denver Post.
The city has not decided on which jobs will have hours reduced and how many hours will be cut, Mayor Mike Johnston said Monday.
“We have not made any final decisions on cuts other than the ones that we announced already,” Johnson said. “All of our departments, all of our agencies, we’re going to have to find a way to prioritize.”
Denver recently reinstated length-of-stay limits for migrant families living in taxpayer-funded hotels indefinitely during the the winter season. Families have 42 days to live in the shelters and individuals have two weeks under the new limits.
Initial budget cuts by Johnston saw the Denver Department of Motor Vehicles and Parks and Rec slash $5 million from their budget without laying off staff.
“These direct impacts on DMV do not involve layoffs, nor do Parks and Rec involve layoffs of our current employees,” Johnson said earlier this month.
“We will have hourly workers that will have fewer hours. If we reduce your hours and you’re an on-call worker, that’s true. We will have on-call workers that we won’t hire for the summer that we will have hired otherwise. This does reduce new hires that we would’ve brought on.”
Johnston blamed Republicans for not supporting the bipartisan immigration deal negotiated by the Senate that conservatives widely viewed as insufficient for tackling record levels of illegal migration. Denver and other cities would have received $1.4 billion for sheltering migrants, enough to fill the city’s $180 million budget hole, Denverite reported.