Denver’s sales-tax revenue plunged nearly 10 percent in February compared with the same month a year ago, forcing Mayor John Hickenlooper to order workers to take a furlough day next month and to prepare for two more.
The mayor announced the news in an e-mail to city workers Monday. City workers were furloughed one day last month.
Declining revenue also dealt a blow to Hickenlooper’s plan to boost the local economy by speeding up construction of a $53 million education and collection facility at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Tax revenue in the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which collects taxes and funds organizations in the seven-county metro region, dropped 18 percent in February from the amount collected in the same month last year.
The mayor had hoped to move up groundbreaking on the museum’s expansion, as he has other improvement projects voters approved in a 2007 bond campaign.
But museum president George Sparks told the City Council on Monday night that the lagging SCFD revenue means the project will have to wait. Sparks said the museum would have had to spend $740,000 on extra staffing associated with the project.
The museum has raised about $5 million of the $23 million it committed to raise in private funds for the project.
“We can’t just wish this recession away,” Councilman Charlie Brown said. “We have to face the music, and the tune is not very great.”
Sales-tax revenue declined 10.3 percent in January compared with January 2008. In February, tax revenues lagged February 2008 by 9.9 percent.
February was the fifth month in a row Denver’s sales-tax collections have declined.
The ongoing revenue decline means the city will have to cut $10 million to $15 million on top of $56 million in previous cuts to this year’s budget.
The furloughs, scheduled for May 22, and potentially Oct. 23 and Nov. 27, affect primarily non-safety employees. The four furlough days could save the city $4 million.
Denver’s budget director Edward Scholz said department managers are being asked to come up with additional cuts for this year as they prepare for the 2010 budget. The city now projects 2009 revenue will be down about 5.8 percent from original projections.
Scholz didn’t rule out the possibility of job and service cuts.
“We want to minimize layoffs as much as possible and minimize the impact to core services,” he said.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
