The Denver City Council voted 9 to 4 on Monday to approve a collective bargaining agreement with the Denver Police Protective Association (DPPA) for the years 2026 through 2028 regarding pay and benefits, despite several heated exchanges between council members.

Concerns erupted over the perception of approving pay raises for police officers in light of the city’s recent layoffs and looming $200 million budget deficit.

At-large Councilmember Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez said she would be unable to support the agreement not only because of the budget shortfall, but also because some city employees who hold positions not funded by general fund dollars are required to take furlough days in “solidarity and consistency” with all city employees.

The new contract contains a number of amendments to the existing contract, including implementing a 2% across-the-board salary increase effective Jan. 1, 2026, a 3% across-the-board salary increase, effective July 1, 2026; a 2% across-the-board salary increase, effective Jan. 1, 2027, a 4% across-the-board salary increase effective July 1, 2027, a 2% across-the-board salary increase, effective Jan. 1, 2028; and a 2% across-the-board salary increase effective July 1, 2028.

Other amendments to the contract include allowing officers the ability to donate sick leave converted to vacation and accrued compensatory time to another officer’s sick leave bank; adding Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a recognized holiday; allowing officers to bank 10 saved holidays in lieu holiday pay; increasing the bank limit for compensatory time from 80 hours to 120 hours; providing new hires with a one-time payment of $1,500 to offset the initial purchase of required equipment/firearm.

District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis voted against the agreement, citing the city’s payout of more than $5 million in police liability settlements so far this year.

“Those funds are drawn from a liabilities claims fund that must be refilled from the general fund, which has an impact on all of us in the city,” Lewis said. “Especially in times of economic stress like we are facing now, and I can’t in good conscience, vote to raise the salaries of those employees in this current budget environment, which will reduce the amount of general funds for the rest of the city.”

Councilmember Stacie Gilmore, who represents District 11, was among the most vocal, saying the council was never presented with a complete budget for this contract and should not vote on it.

In late October 2020, the City and County of Denver and the DPPA had reached an impasse on collective bargaining agreement negotiations, and an independent arbitrator was brought in to decide the new contract terms for Denver Police Department officers through 2022, including two pay raises in 2022.

The agreement rejected by the city council also would have suspended salary increases in 2021, frozen pay for 10 holidays, and reduced Denver’s contribution to the Denver police Retiree Health Fund by $360,000.

“I share the discomfort that many of my colleagues feel,” District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez said. “It feels wrong to be approving raises for one department at the same time laying off staff in other areas that address the root causes of crime – the Office of Children’s Affairs, Human Rights and Community Partnerships and other vital services – And yet, I am going to vote in favor of this, not because I agree with that choice, or the mayor’s choices at all, or the departments that he gutted, but because these times we need to keep our city united and we need our police.”

Alvidrez added: “We also have to remember the reality that the mayor himself has previously said he would send our officers to the border to defend us from the federal government. They are already carrying this burden of decisions far beyond their own control and things that far beyond their own control, and if we don’t act responsibly, the alternative is that the President could be sending the National Guard or worse, and that would only further divide and destabilize our city.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is due to deliver his 2026 budget to the City Council on Sept. 15.