Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is offering Denver city employees a day off after Thanksgiving, but the offer comes with the caveat of no pay for that day.
The mayor said in an e-mail on Friday to city employees that the voluntary furlough day is prompted by the slumping national economy. Sales tax receipts, which generate half of the city revenues, aren’t meeting projections, he said.
“Our September sales tax collections show a modest 2.3 percent increase over September 2007, and the year-to date sales tax receipts through September are up 3.9 percent over 2007,” the mayor said.
But that doesn’t meet the assumed growth of 5.3 percent, creating a gap between revenues and expenditures, the mayor cautioned.
“While the news for now is better than expected, we are still likely to have a budget gap this year and a challenging road in 2009,” the mayor said.
A week ago, the mayor sent an e-mail to all city employees asking them to make cost-cutting suggestions. He said he had received 330 suggestions so far. He said furlough days had come in high on the list.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
