Yet another blue city is experiencing a substantial deficit due to government overspending. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston declared in May that the city was facing a $50 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year that is expected to explode to $200 million by 2026.
The city’s general fund reserves have declined from $391 million in 2022 to $299 million in 2024. The city plans to cut the general fund spending by 12%, a steeper cut than what was experienced during the COVID pandemic. The city has already implemented a hiring freeze for public workers and layoffs are expected. “We will have to look at layoffs,” Johnston said. “We do not envision a scenario where it’s possible to right-size this budget without that impact on personnel.”
Denver spent $356 million on migrants, and the mayor plans to continue fighting deportation efforts. All of these sanctuary cities are experiencing steep deficits, and they act perplexed as to why. Roughly 45,000 migrants have made their way to Denver since 2022, according to the Common Sense Institute (CSI). The local healthcare system cannot accommodate the large influx, but the city has spent $49 million on migrant healthcare after 8,000 migrants recorded around 20,000 visits to Denver Health alone last year. Doctors are calling the strain on the system a “humanitarian crisis” that has pushed the state hospital system to a breaking point. The hospital was forced to remove 15 beds in 2023 after finishing FY2022 $22 million above budget.
In February 2024, Denver voted to cut public services by $5 million to redistribute costs to migrants. The city acknowledged that taxpayers were on the hook for a $180 million bill in 2024 to host illegal aliens. The city spent, on a low estimate, $40 million on migrants in 2023. These politicians have absolutely no scope of the true cost of paying for unemployed migrants who do not contribute to society. They refuse to address the core problem because that would unmask the true motive behind the deliberate and calculated invasion.
Another blue city favorite is misappropriating funds to combat the homelessness epidemic. They continue to throw money at the problem without resolution. In 2024 alone, Denver spend $242 million on assisting the homeless population, with $30 million going toward rental assistance.
Denver allocated $4 BILLION for its basic income project that provides unconditional cash payments to the homeless with no strings attached. By the end of 2024, the city will have paid out over $10.8 billion to people who are unable to contribute to society. The city is robbing the working class to pay for those who prefer to rely on government assistance.
We will see more cities slash their budgets as they realize they simply cannot afford to bankroll tens of thousands of migrants. These city leaders are refusing to cooperate with ICE due to their hatred of Trump and are willing to allow their deficits to sink into the ground before acknowledging the main culprit of their financial burdens. This will lead to increased civil unrest as Americans watch their quality of life decline due to their taxes being misused for political purposes. The asinine amount of money American citizens pay in taxes should not be spent on people from foreign nations, be it on wars or migrants.
