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SEE FORUM
discusses city budget issues with Englewood offi cials and provides city council with the perspective of citizens regarding Englewood’s fi nancial policies. The candidates’ forum took place Oct. 6 at Sacred Grace Englewood church in the city’s downtown area.
Nunnenkamp wants Englewood to bring on more grant writers to pursue more sources of income for the city.
Ward said Englewood’s budget surplus — money the city has left over after spending alloted funding — traditionally has been saved rather than spent. Ward supports a policy where in “lean” years, the city doesn’t spend as much, and in years with surplus, the city can choose to spend more.
Jim Woodward, a former Englewood mayor running against Colecchi, voiced support for affordable housing.
“Affordable housing is out of the range of most people who live in Englewood right now,” Woodward said. “Right now, most people couldn’t buy the homes they’re in — if they’re in homes.”
Colecchi supported fi nding funding such as grants to “make things more affordable for people” because in terms of the housing market, “Englewood is in trouble like everybody else in the Denver area,” she said.
Businesses need more customers so they can thrive in Englewood, and to fi ll that need, the city needs more “rooftops,” or more housing development, Nunnenkamp said.
Ward noted the recently formed Englewood Downtown Development Authority, an organization that aims to economically boost the central part of the city, from CityCenter Englewood shopping center to the city’s downtown area to the Swedish hospital district.
He looks forward to “seeing CityCenter pop” as more development occurs there, he said.
Some candidates mentioned the idea of “TIF,” or tax-increment fi nancing, a tool the development authority hopes to use to help fi nance improvements to the region that Ward mentioned.
Tax-increment fi nancing is based on the idea that the efforts of the downtown authority to reinvest in downtown Englewood will create incremental increases in both sales-tax revenue and property-tax revenue beyond what would otherwise occur without a development authority — spurring economic momentum, according to city offi cials. Basically, the city expects the efforts to naturally result in more tax revenue due to more economic activity.
It’s unclear when that cycle of investment and revenue gains would put visible changes in motion downtown.
During the current election, which ends Nov. 2, voters in that area will decide on what appears to be a bond measure to borrow money to get the development authority’s plans more fully underway.
See englewoodco.gov/government/electioninformation/2021-general-municipal-election for more information on that measure. The forum can be viewed at youtube.com/watch?v=myaYPNUxqo8.
In the election that ends Nov. 2, Englewood residents are voting on city council members.
In District 2, northeast Englewood, Chelsea Nunnenkamp is running uncontested for the seat currently held by Linda Olson since 2009. Olson, the current mayor, is term-limited.
Two candidates, Steven Ward and Belinda Porter, are vying for the District 4 seat for southwest Englewood. Dave Cuesta, who was elected that district’s councilmember in 2017, is not running for another term. Porter did not attend the candidates’ forum.
Ward has been serving as an at-large member of the council since March 15, filling the seat vacated earlier that month by John Stone.
A two-year at-large position will also be on the ballot this fall (it is the second half of Stone’s vacated term). Mary Colecchi and Jim Woodward are the candidates for that city council seat. Woodward once served as Englewood’s mayor.
Once elected, the new city council will decide which of its members will serve as mayor and mayor pro tem.
Councilmember Cheryl Wink is running uncontested to keep the at-large seat she has held since 2017. The election is for a four-year term. Wink did not attend the candidates’ forum.
Candidates’ responses to questionnaires on the issues appeared in last week’s Herald and are unline at englewoodherald.net.
