Just four days after City of Denver economists and finance personnel warned of recession-like conditions, increasing economic uncertainty, and recommended city leaders keep their budgets flat, CBS News Colorado has learned that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is seeking double-digit raises for a dozen of his appointees, with some of the raises topping 30% to 40%.
“We probably should have done this six months ago,” conceded Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Johnston, when questioned about the timing of the department-head raises.
WASHINGTON, DC- MARCH 5: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston testifies during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing titled “A Hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors” in Washington, DC on March 5, 2025. Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
According to information obtained by CBS News Colorado and confirmed by Ewing, the Mayor plans to ask a City Council committee on Tuesday to approve the following raises:
- Manager of the Department of Aviation from $346,975 to $406,511 or a 17.2% increase ($59,536.00 raise)
- Manager of Department of Finance from $185,365.82 to $266,162.32 or a 43.6% increase ($80,796.50 raise)
- City Attorney from $216,061.10 to $ 268,479.12 or a 24.3% increase ($52,418.02 raise)
- Manager of Department of Transportation and Infrastructure from $195,219.65 to $240,675.85 or a 23.3% increase ($45,456.20 raise)
Also racking up large proposed salary bumps, the Managers of Parks and Rec, Department of Safety, General Services and other department heads.
Ewing said the mayoral appointees had not received raises since 2022 and needed additional compensation or the city would risk losing them, “We have to bring them up to fair market rate.”
He said the 12 raises would be funded by savings from other vacant positions in the mayor’s office. Ewing went on to say that other city employees receive regular 4% merit raises, but these mayoral appointees have not.
For each of the raises, half would be funded out of the 2025 budget dollars, with the other half being funded out of the 2026 budget, according to the mayor’s office.
On Monday, Denver’s top finance administrators warned city council that the next several months will be “very very uncomfortable” and will feel like a recession with soft revenue projections. They said the city was facing “serious economic headwinds,” with the city facing flat sales and use tax revenues in 2026.
The City of Denver released this statement to CBS News Colorado after the story was first published:
Running a world-class city requires world-class talent, which is why Denver’s HR professionals regularly perform market studies to ensure all 13,000 of our hard-working employees are compensated in line with their peers. However, owing to city charter there are twelve employees who have not received a market adjustment in three years and are making significantly less than their national or regional peers. Bringing their pay into alignment is about retaining and recruiting leaders who deliver strong results in good, bad, and uncertain times.
The city also provided this information to CBS News Colorado as background:
On an ongoing basis, and pursuant to charter, the city regularly performs market studies for all city job classifications to ensure that Denver is competitive and city employees are earning compensation in line with their market peers.
Over the last three years, in addition to an average 4% merit increase, city employees across all classifications have received a total of $53M in increased pay. That includes:
- $6.5M in increases resulting from individual position audits
- $42.9M in increases resulting from pay equity adjustments
- $2M in increases resulting from classification studies
- And $1.7M in increases resulting from annual market analyses
There are 12 Executive Director positions identified in the city charter who are governed by different rules than all other city employees. These 12 positions do not receive annual pay adjustments based on market studies, nor are they eligible for pay equity adjustments or annual merit increases.
If passed by city council, charter officers’ adjusted salary amounts will begin July 1 and will have a combined total budget impact of less than $250k for 2025.
For 2025, these adjusted salary increases will be funded by the Mayor’s Office budget to avoid any impact on the Executive Directors’ respective city departments. This funding is available due to budgeted positions within the Mayor’s Office being held vacant for the remainder of the year.
