DENVER — On a sunny Tuesday afternoon during a Rockies game, downtown Denver was filled with people walking around Union Station. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston wants to see that atmosphere throughout the entirety of the city's downtown core.
He hopes to accomplish that with a measure worth millions of dollars likely appearing on some ballots this November.
The idea is to extend the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which was first established to fund Union Station transformations over a decade ago. Johnston described it as a tool to make investments in downtown.
"Sometimes, when we build something like Union Station, to build all the new infrastructure that's required, we allow businesses to keep sales tax we collect for a while after that. It was supposed to take 30 years to repay Union Station, and it was so successful, it took 15 [years]," Johnston said, explaining the origins of the DDA. “What we're doing is keeping that, but expanding the area that we can spend the money."
Johnston said since the payment for Union Station took 15 years, there's still 15 years left for the DDA to operate. He wants to see the money in the coming years spent on more than just Union Station and Market Station — which currently make up the DDA.
"The difference between what we're generating now, and what will come in, is what we keep to reinvest in the neighborhood. So, it doesn't go back to the businesses. They don't keep it, it goes to reinvest in public infrastructure," Johnston said. “It could be roads, could be bridges, could be parks, could be things like converting vacant commercial office buildings into residential units for people to live in downtown that are affordable. So, those are all investments we make in public infrastructure that make it more desirable for people to live downtown.”
The ballot language states that the City of Denver's debt would be increased $570,000,000.
"This will allow us to make almost half a billion dollars of investments in downtown Denver without raising taxes," Johnston said. “We already have the money. The money is there. It'll come in regularly, year over year, and that amount could only grow as more businesses opt in.”
Denver
With Union Station as a guide, Denver hopes to invest $500 million into downtown
Denver City Council has approved the measure for the ballot, and now it must be passed by the DDA Board.
“I talked to the board today. I think they're very excited. They can't wait to get it going," said Johnston. “We have too many vacant businesses on the 16th Street Mall right now. As we reopen that, we want to fill all those businesses. We can use this to attract and keep great restaurants, great retail establishments.”
A select number of voters in Denver would decide on the ballot measure in November, once it clears the DDA Board. The qualified electors — 2,500 of them — are all residents or businesses located within the DDA already.
“Sometimes, if you have a landlord that owns a building, they might have one vote, and the individual tenants might have individual votes, but it's generally one vote per business," Johnston said. “That group of 2,500 people and that small geography of Union Station has already created the ability for them to keep all of this money for the next 15 years. So if we did nothing, they would just spend half a billion dollars more on Union Station. But, we don't need to do that. Those 2,500 people are being kind enough to say, we're happy to take the money that was supposed to be used just for our neighborhood and actually give it to the rest of downtown.”
Denver7 asked Johnston if it is worth it to make such sweeping investments in downtown Denver, when many locals have began spending their time outside of the city center.
“You do see this happening to cities around the country, as a lot of them are losing their city centers. Some of them are giving up. We refuse do that. We're actually saying we absolutely want to defend, protect and enhance the experience of our downtown, because I think every city still needs a center," Johnston replied. “This is what will drive tourism. It'll drive our own residents to come and visit, and it'll drive more and more Denverites who actually want to make downtown their home.”
The ballot question, as approved by Denver City Council on Monday, reads as follows:
WITHOUT INCREASING TAXES, SHALL THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, COLORADO (“CITY”) DEBT BE INCREASED $570,000,000, WITH A TOTAL REPAYMENT COST OF NOT MORE THAN $847,000,000 (MAXIMUM TOTAL PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST) FOR USE BY AND ON BEHALF OF THE DENVER DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (THE “DDDA”), FOR OBLIGATIONS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO TABOR’S ELECTION REQUIREMENTS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE COSTS OF PUBLIC FACILITIES AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS, SUCH AS CREATING AND MAINTAINING PUBLIC SPACES AND FACILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS TO PUBLIC OR PRIVATE PROPERTY IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROJECTS DESCRIBED IN THE DDDA PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT, AS IT MAY BE RESTATED OR AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME;
SUCH DEBT AND THE INTEREST THEREON TO BE PAID FROM AND SECURED BY A PLEDGE OF THE SPECIAL FUND OF THE CITY WHICH SHALL CONTAIN TAX INCREMENT REVENUES LEVIED AND COLLECTED WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE DDDA; AND SHALL THE CITY BE AUTHORIZED TO PLEDGE THE SPECIAL FUND OF THE CITY AND THE TAX INCREMENT REVENUES COLLECTED THEREIN TO THE REPAYMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF AND INTEREST ON OBLIGATIONS THAT ARE NOT SUBJECT TO TABOR’S ELECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING PUBLIC FACILITIES AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS TO PUBLIC OR PRIVATE PROPERTY IN ACCORDANCE WITH PROJECTS DESCRIBED IN THE DDDA PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT, AS IT MAY BE RESTATED OR AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME; AND SHALL ANY DEBT AUTHORIZED BY THIS QUESTION BE EVIDENCED BY BONDS, LOANS, ADVANCES, OR OTHER INDEBTEDNESS OR FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS, TO BE SOLD IN ONE SERIES OR MORE, FOR A PRICE ABOVE OR BELOW THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT THEREOF, ON TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AND WITH SUCH MATURITIES, AS PERMITTED BY LAW AND AS THE CITY MAY DETERMINE, INCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THE DEBT PRIOR TO MATURITY WITH OR WITHOUT PAYMENT OF A PREMIUM OF NOT MORE THAN 3% OF THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT SO REDEEMED; AND SHALL THE CITY AND THE DDDA BE AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT, RETAIN AND SPEND THE TAX INCREMENT REVENUES, THE BOND PROCEEDS AND THE INVESTMENT INCOME THEREON AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE AND EXCEPTION TO THE LIMITS WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE APPLY UNDER ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION OR ANY OTHER LAW?
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