Preliminary reports from a Denver task force have identified $550 million in priority infrastructure improvements needed to bring the city up to par.
And voters probably will be asked to begin paying for those improvements as early as this fall.
In all, members of Mayor John Hickenlooper’s Infrastructure Priority Task Force outlined about $700 million in possible renovations, construction projects and improvements for city funding.
The list of needs ranges from $16 million for irrigation at parks to $60 million for transportation needs and $75 million for renovations at the Boettcher Concert Hall.
Just where the money will come from, how many of the projects will get funding and when it would be set aside are still up in the air.
The task force’s executive committee will begin meeting with the public next month for input on prioritizing projects.
But it is likely citizens will see some kind of bond issue or mill levy on a ballot as early as November.
“Denver is going to have a very, I think, interesting and important decision to make real soon,” City Council President Michael Hancock said. “We’ve got to decide how do we address our needs today and maintain the infrastructure that we have. And I’m not quite sure that we can continue doing it the way we have been doing it all these years.”
Hickenlooper set forth the goal of assessing and addressing Denver’s infrastructure needs last summer.
Eight subcommittees – divided along areas of interest like public safety, human services and community planning – have been meeting since then to identify needs across the city. All but one, the finance committee, turned in reports this month.
Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, Kelly Brough, said the idea is to create “a long-term plan that even future policymakers could build off of.”
Brough said that in terms of funding, “almost everything is on the table.”
While some form of tax increase in the $300 million range has been talked about for close to a year, Brough said the city is “not just looking at traditional methods.”
Tradition in Denver has been what the task force termed “catch-up bond issuances” every decade or so to bring the city up to speed on maintenance.
But in a background report, the task force concluded that city needs require more planning.
Big-ticket items over the past 20 years such as Denver International Airport, libraries and other facility expansions created “further neglect of the city’s need to maintain, refurbish and replace its existing infrastructure.”
“The cost to ‘catch up’ from the historical maintenance deferral and bring all the city’s assets up to minimum standards is approximately $390 million,” the report said.
Councilman Charlie Brown said the task force’s findings show a need to change how the city funds major projects.
“We build these things and we pay for them,” he said, “but we don’t have any maintenance budget.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
On the preliminary wish list
City and County Building – $15 million to $30 million in repairs
Greek Theater rehabilitation – $5 million
Boettcher Concert Hall – $75 million (with an additional $25 million from other funds)
Housing for homeless – $16.3 million
Park irrigation – $16 million
Crime Lab renovation – $45 million
Central Park Boulevard exchange with Interstate 70 – $10 million
Colfax Avenue from Sheridan to Federal boulevards and Grant to Josephine streets – $3 million
