Now comes the tough part.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who endured a grueling and contentious election, on Monday enjoyed a whirlwind of inaugural excess.
But the realities facing the city’s chief executive will begin to unfold.
Hancock, 41, enters as Denver’s 45th mayor during one of the city’s worst economic periods, with a budget hole that continues to grow.
Immediately, Hancock must find an additional $25 million in budget cuts to present a balanced 2012 budget to the City Council by mid-September. Longer term, the city faces a “structural” imbalance in which revenues trail spending.
He also must step into the contentious debate about what to do with the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo and find a way to restore the public’s trust in the city’s Police Department, which has been beset by a number of controversies.
Hancock acknowledged the challenges to reporters after speaking to a boisterous crowd at the inauguration ceremony in the Temple Buell Theatre.
“It’s going to be painful for a lot of folks and a lot of services that people care about,” he said.
Among his administration’s first priorities will be addressing the 2012 budget.
Denver officials earlier this year announced the city was facing a $100 million budget shortfall.
Outgoing Mayor Guillermo “Bill” Vidal set up a task force of business leaders to develop a list of ideas for Hancock. Vidal’s administration also found about $75 million in cuts and savings — leaving Hancock to find $25 million more.
Hancock last week appointed former Colorado Treasurer Cary Kennedy to be his chief financial officer.
On Monday, Kennedy said work already has begun. City agencies have been submitting plans on how they could cut at least 10 percent from their budgets.
But even those possible ideas have produced headlines.
For example, a 10 percent cut of the city’s largest agency, the Police Department, would save about $24 million but cost 100 jobs.
“There will be tough decisions for the mayor over the next 30 days,” Kennedy said. “But agencies have planned and prepared to deal with this economic reality.”
During his speech, Hancock alluded to some ideas his administration will push.
Around Denver International Airport, he wants to build up an “aerotropolis” of business and industry, creating an economic engine he said could be like a second Denver Tech Center.
Also, he wants to turn a 22-mile stretch between DIA and the city into a “corridor of opportunity” and push for the completion of FasTracks across the region.
“I’ve always been clear that we need to build out FasTracks as efficiently and quickly as possible,” he said, adding that he would support a tax increase to pay for it.
He also supports the creation of a library district to help fund the city’s library system and avoid closures.
Also, Hancock during the campaign pushed a pay-as-you-throw trash program in which residents would be billed by weight of their garbage.
Gov. John Hickenlooper, who stepped down as Denver mayor after November’s election, said Hancock is on the right track.
“He doesn’t need my advice,” Hickenlooper said when asked if he had any pointers. “He needs to keep doing what he already is. He is assembling a talented team. It’s never just your vision. It’s all the people around you who help to craft that vision.”
Hancock supporter and former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll said he believes Hancock is taking the right approach to the city’s problems by keeping an optimistic attitude.
“At this point, Denver needs a leader who understands that tough times may come and go, but tough people always stay,” he said.
Bee Harris, a Denver small-business owner, said she thinks Hancock is the perfect man for the job.
“The first thing he should do is real ly work with small-business owners,” Harris said. “I think he will do a wonderful job.”
Hancock said he didn’t realize the scope of the moment — of achieving one of his lifelong dreams — until he saw the color guard and the people in the audience and heard “The Star-Spangled Banner” played on the violin by Maestro Jeffrey Hughes.
“Then it dawned on me,” Hancock said. “Only in America and only in Denver could a kid come from what I came from and become what I have become.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
