Most everyone agrees with Republicans on the Aurora City Council that taxpayer dollars pinched from residents and city businesses are not to be used as a slush fund for philanthropic whimsy.
Where city council Republicans have become confused is in their misunderstanding of why the city often hands over local tax dollars to outside agencies.
The question of city disbursements to outside agencies took center stage at a recent Aurora City Council meeting as lawmakers worked to decide what to do about grave budget shortfalls among agencies in the region providing services to homeless residents.
The forecasted shortfalls for 2024 are the result of reduced city tax revenues caused by sinking recreational marijuana sales. Those tax receipts have for the last few years been targeted for city homelessness programs.
It’s no small amount of money. City officials project tax receipts from pot sales, destined for homeless programs, will fall from $3.9 million to $1.4 million. In addition, an undetermined amount of money, possibly in the millions of dollars, passed to the programs and agencies from federal emergency pandemic funds will also wither.
Officials from just about all of the agencies — which provide food, emergency shelter, health-care, social services, mental health care and addiction services, long-term shelter, job assistance and other services — have appealed to city lawmakers to find a way to make up the shortfall.
The message from most of the city council Republicans was: Go fish — somewhere else.
“This is not just a guaranteed handout,” Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said when some lawmakers asked to direct staff to look for ways to make up the lost money. “I know how budgets work. Go fundraise.”
We agree with Jurinsky that this is not a “handout.”
The money is provided to agencies like Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, Aurora Mental Health, the Salvation Army and others not as handouts, but as payments to contractors to provide critical services the city does not provide itself.
While it may be true that some city lawmakers see providing food, shelter and other services to homeless people only as a discretionary humanitarian perk, the line-item transfers are actually in the same vein of spending millions each year to house and care for homeless dogs and cats. Caring for people who are unhoused or unable to care for themselves isn’t just a matter of pity, it’s a matter of public health and safety.
Housed people don’t camp in parks, along roadways and under viaducts. People without homes suffering from all kinds of addictions don’t fuel illegal drug trade and crime when they are successfully treated for their addictions. Unhoused people staying in managed campgrounds or micro-home villages don’t scare customers away from frustrated businesses. People in day centers and city-sponsored shelters and housing facilities don’t use up endless police, fire and other rescue services. Having their health issues managed, they don’t overtax emergency room services or drive up healthcare costs for everyone by seeking health care only in emergency rooms.
This isn’t just another case of “thoughts and prayers” for people seen too often as a nuisance and not a crisis. If these outside agencies are unable to provide these critical and desperately needed services, the city — which manages health and safety services for Aurora residents and businesses — must do the job.
Funding these agencies is not only the right thing to do, city lawmakers have virtually obligated the city to provide at least some shelter services to homeless residents. About a year ago, Aurora lawmakers tied its ability to evict homeless campers on public property based on the availability of temporary shelter. If the agencies “paid” by the city through grants are no longer able to provide shelter, the city can’t abide by its own regulations in pushing campers from their campsites.
But above all, these funds and agencies target the most vulnerable people in the city. Many have mental illnesses. Many suffer from myriad and often multiple addictions.
“Go fundraise” is as practical as “get a job.”
Rather than turn away from the groups and agencies providing critical humanitarian services for all of Aurora, city lawmakers should direct staff to reach out to state and county officials in a collaborative way to step in and ensure adequate funding.
And why is it you believe the plight of the homeless is the financial obligation of the City of Aurora? Do these homeless not reside in the counties of Arapahoe and Adams? Do they not reside in the State of Colorado and in the United States? Why do you not harangue those entities for funding? Are you not aware that we pay tax dollars to those entities to fund Health departments, and Health and Human Services departments. The City has no such department and no statutory obligation under Colorado law to provide such services.
What a selfish, mean spirited and judgemental comment. If you haven’t walked in the shoes of the homeless. Unfortunately, you will always have displaced people around- that’s just how it is.
I’ll pray that you will never become homeless
Kevin, I am uncertain how suggesting that the appropirate levels of government address the matter is selfish or mean spirited, but I will consider your input.
Actually, Publius has a valid question based on logical understanding about the role of municipal government.
Shove your emotional manipulation and guilt-mongering. Aurora is not San Francisco or Portland, the deep blue effluent cesspits of America.
That’s also not how it works. Arapahoe County provides support for the municipalities inside it and services to *unincorporated* Arapahoe County residents. The State provides guidance and funding to the Counties. The City can’t just shirk its responsibilities and direct services. They are literally the base of the pyramid. Unless you’re advocating for more / bigger government and less local control.
To quote Scrooge: ‘Are there no workhouses? No treadmills?’
Adams and Arapahoe counties are both progressive majorities, not conservative. Do they not take their responsibility to health and human services seriously?
It is a relief that Aurora did not take funds away from police, parks, roads and other basic public services in order to fund the ever increasing services to the homeless. When did it become the responsibility of the city is to provide individuals — many with no deep ties at all to Aurora — with “wrap around” services that include shelter, prepared meals, medical care, legal advice, job training, addiction intervention, laundry facilities, clothes, housing navigation services, and storage facilities?
The answer is pretty simple to when did the city assume the responsibility to take on these obligations of funding the homeless. It’s when there were enough on city council to vote to create a special department to oversee and manage the problem. Shelly McKittrick was Aurora’s first manager hired in 2016 as you see in the link.
https://www.cpr.org/2016/09/19/how-auroras-new-homelessness-director-hopes-to-make-a-difference/
Please note, the strong useful formulas to follow to clean up the problem. All the fantastic hard learned experience gained we can now see from this quite successful programs decrease in California’s homelessness situation.
According to scripture that responsibility belongs to all of us. ‘As you do this for the least among you, you do this for me.’