BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
In Greenwood Village, the tax dollars just keep rolling in.
On September 15, the GV City Council held a six-hour meeting to review and discuss a 202-page document that contains the amounts and detailed explanations of its proposed revenues and expenditures for the coming year. As we do every year, The Villager attended the meeting, for which no minutes are kept. It is also not recorded by video or even audio, although council members can participate remotely if they prefer.
The proposed 2024 city budget lists expected revenue for the coming year of $68.4 million. Sales and use taxes account for over 60% of that total, making GV “especially reliant” on that source of funds.
At this time one year ago, as GV got ready to adopt its 2023 budget, citywide revenue for the coming year was expected to be $59.7 million, 15% less than what is now projected for 2024. That number turned out to be low. As of today, projected revenue for 2023 is $66.5 million, $6.8 million more than the amount budgeted, but still under what is expected in 2024.
For perspective, we looked back five years to before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, GV’s adopted budget was $52.9 million, thus annual city revenue has gone up 29% over the past five years that included the entirety of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GV’s proposed expenditures in 2024 total $69.8 million, which exceeds the money the city expects to bring in by $1.4 million, slightly depleting its total fund balance, which is projected to go from $58 million on December 31, 2023 to $56.6 million on December 31, 2024, still robust by any standard.
The city’s unassigned general fund balance, which is the amount it has in the bank (invested to bring in appropriate returns) that is not reserved pursuant to any legal requirement or self-imposed policy, is projected to be $32.7 million as of December 31, 2024.
Over the past four years, the city has increased salaries and benefits, which comprise 63% of its general fund expenditures, to recruit and retain employees in what it views as an increasingly competitive environment.
Budgeted personnel
costs for year
2021
2022
2023
2024
Amount
$26,630,000
$27,620,000
$30,100,000
$32,000,000
Prior to 2024, the increased costs for salaries and benefits were not accompanied by any new staff positions. Next year, three new positions are being added in the police department to manage the data gathered by the automatic license plate readers GV is in the process of installing throughout the city. The total cost for those positions is just over $300,000 hence the budget increase for 2024 includes $1.6 million for higher salaries and increased benefits.
Some of the larger line items included in GV’s proposed 2024 $20 million capital projects budget have been ongoing for several years while others are new. A few of the larger capital projects, outside of regularly scheduled road and pavement maintenance, and their total expected costs include:
Project Total cost for 2024 and previous years
- City Hall Interior Remodel
$5,311,178 - Belleview Ave & Fairfax Lane
$2,211,199 - Northbound to westbound acceleration lane Orchard Rd & Quebec St
$1,399,999 - southbound right turn lane Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve Well
$1,900,000
As part of its ongoing evaluation of needed traffic improvements that are included in the capital projects budget, GV has been working in concert with the Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) for the past four years to analyze how to improve traffic flows around the multi-use campus that includes district administrative buildings, a school bus storage yard, and three schools, Belleview Elementary, Campus Middle School, and Cherry Creek High School. The impact area extends from Belleview Avenue north to Union Avenue and Yosemite Street east to Dayton Street. These discussions are continuing as CCSD evaluates the ongoing functional use of the multiple buildings that comprise this campus, some of which are over 50 years old.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com