City's Economy Starting To Slow, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock Warns
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says he's seeing the city's economy start to slow down, and "it's causing us a great deal of concern." Hancock made the comments during a news conference Monday morning to discuss Denver's 2020 budget. He said the city has already dropped expected sales tax revenues by 1.5% this year, but the mayor says it could have been worse.
"Tourism, food and beverage have held up and helped us maintained some level of momentum, whereas for the last 3 to 5 years we actually had the other elements such as the purchase of automobiles appliances ... working in parallel and so it kept our economy strong," Hancock said. "We're starting to see those things soften."
The 2020 budget will focus on homelessness, traffic, climate change and safe neighborhoods. Hancock says a new department for sustainable housing will be created and he wants it to have the same priority as police and fire.
Hancock is serving his third and final term as mayor due to term limits.