Eating out four times a week on taxpayer money, or as the case may be, drinking out, is not acceptable behavior for stewards of a foundation dedicated to Denver’s mental health.
The City of Denver auditor released a report that found employees at Caring for Denver – a foundation voters created in 2018 – had spent $28,000 on meals and drinks over three years and $3,000 on expensive alcohol including high-end $20 cocktails.
Denver voters should start the difficult process to sunset the .25% sales tax we authorized for mental health care for the homeless and suicide.
Oversight of the foundation has been difficult. The group has a dedicated revenue stream of tax dollars but operates outside the regulation or oversight of the City of Denver. It was always going to be a recipe for disaster.
And this is not the first negative audit or report.
Caring for Denver, we are sure, has accomplished good during the past eight years, doling out grants to nonprofits already working to care for Denver’s mental health. But because the foundation is simply a pass-through of taxpayer dollars to entities that are actually doing the hard work of caring for Denverites, we think it will be simple to unwind.
When your only job is to make sure money goes to others who are doing hard work, fiscal accountability and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars is the only job qualification. This audit, in addition to other reports, indicates that the employees at Caring for Denver have failed.
“These expenses show a disregard for fiscal accountability,” Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien said in a news release. “I question whether it is best practice for taxpayers to foot the bill for alcohol and meals in the amount and frequency we discovered.”
Lorez Meinhold, executive director of the foundation, defended the spending by saying a large part of her and her staff’s jobs were to “meet grantees where they are and what they’re comfortable with.”
Meinhold herself spent $3,130 on alcohol over the three-year period audited. That included 70 drinks that cost more than $20 each at the glitzy cocktail lounge Death & Co. So we are supposed to believe that many of the nonprofit leaders who Meinhold was trying to encourage to apply for grants all suggested one of Denver’s more expensive bars as the place they should meet to discuss mental health grant applications.
Does Meinhold think we are stupid?
To give some credit where credit is due, this is better than the alternative, which would be Meinhold getting wined and dined by grant applicants hoping to tilt the scales in their favor so millions could flow to their nonprofit.
That form of corruption would be worse than living large on the taxpayer dollars when many Denverites have had to forego eating out entirely to try and remain in the city and under budget.
Denver relies on sales tax for almost all of its operations – including police, fire, roads, bridges and snow removal. Tacking on an extra .25% sales tax onto every sale in the city is a big deal. This is money that could give struggling small businesses a boost, or help residents save money, or that the City of Denver could tap into during an economic recession if sales tax receipts plummet and voters approve an increase.
The path forward to revoke the sales tax revenue from Caring for Denver is complicated. Either motivated citizens will have to collect signatures and get the repeal on the ballot or Denver City Council will have to refer the measure to voters. But hopefully outrage over years of mismanagement culminating with gross disregard for taxpayers will help motivate the effort.
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