Denver is considering cutting some of its employees’ hours as Colorado grapples with an influx of immigrants.
City officials announced Monday that some workers, mainly in the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, may have their hours cut to zero to reallocate those funds toward addressing the immigrant crisis. Officials claim Denver is not laying off employees, rather some on-call employees will have all of their hours cut. On-call employees include positions such as lifeguards, coaches, and front desk employees.
“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,” Denver Parks and Recreations Director Jolon Clark told Denver 9News. “The final decisions on hours for any individual position have not been made yet.”
The department is looking to cut nearly $4.3 million from its budget to help the city address the crisis. Denver is short $180 million due to the cost of immigrants arriving in Colorado.
The first round of proposed cuts included the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Parks and Recreation. Earlier this month, Mayor Mike Johnston said these were not layoffs, simply a reduction in hours — to none.
“These direct impacts on DMV do not involve layoffs, nor do Parks and Rec involve layoffs of our current employees,” Johnston said in a February press conference. “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.”
Final decisions about exactly which hours and how many will be cut have not yet been made.
“We have not made any final decisions on cuts other than the ones that we announced already,” Johnston said. “All of our departments, all of our agencies, we’re going to have to find a way to prioritize.”
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The mayor has placed the blame on former President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress for the crisis his city is facing. Johnston addressed the bipartisan border and foreign aid bill that the GOP eventually rallied against.
“Denverites have done their part, the city will do our part,” Johnston said. “The federal government failed to do their part. Addressing this crisis will require shared sacrifice, but we will continue to work together to meet this moment.”
