September

26, 2011 An open letter to the citizens of Denver: As city council members, we are very concerned about the negative impacts of Initiative 300 on the City after recent analyses from the city attorneys office and budget and management office found the measure would cost nearly $700, 000 a year and force Denver to create a new level of bureaucracy for enforcement. Based on these impacts, we urge citizens to vote No on Initiative 300 this November. While Initiative 300 specifically exempts federal and state employees, it does not exempt temporary and part-time Denver employees from the regulations. The city has no existing system in place to implement this ordinance and a number of the citys existing paid sick leave policies are in conflict with those set forth in the Initiative 300. The budget analysis of Initiative 300 outlines an additional financial burden to the city of almost $700,000 per year. Denver has a structural budget challenge. We have faced significant budget shortfalls year after year, and city council has been forced to make painful cuts to city services on a variety of matters. The other week, Mayor Michael Hancock submitted his plan to close another $99.4 million budget shortfall for the upcoming year. The Mayors proposed budget already includes five furlough days for all employees just to balance our budget. Creating additional costs for the City at this time will come at the expense of other services. We take pride in our role as advocates for the people of Denver and work daily to ensure Denver serves all of its residents. Initiative 300 has a number of flaws in the way it was written, and based on the legal and budgetary analysis by the city, we cannot support it. For all of the above reasons, we ask Denver voters to join us in voting No vote on Initiative 300 when mail ballots arrive.

 Sincerely, Peggy Lehmann, District 4 Mary Beth Susman, District 5 Charlie Brown, District 6 Albus Brooks, District 8 Jeanne Robb, District 10 Chris Herndon, District 11