$424,000 war chest for bond campaign

Denver will ask voters to approve $937M bond issue

Nonprofit groups, developers, city contractors and other donors already have chipped in nearly $424,000 for the campaign that would urge Denver voters to approve the city’s proposed $937 million bond package this fall.

A committee called “Our Denver” got a jump-start on soliciting donations in late May, when the bond measures were far from being finalized by the City Council. That step isn’t expected to occur until mid-August.

Earlier this week, Mayor Michael Hancock released his recommended bond projects list, with a $937 million price tag for hundreds of projects that include library branch renovations, upgrades to city-owned facilities, fixes to parks and recreation centers, projects at cultural institutions and extensive roadwork, bike lanes and pedestrian projects.

Hancock’s 2015 re-election campaign manager, Jake Martin, is signed on to run the Our Denver committee. He registered the

group with the Denver Elections Division on May 11, and he said he recently hired an outreach staffer.

In the run-up to the Nov. 7 election, the budding campaign will urge Denver voters to approve the bond measures with extensive in-person appeals as well as advertising on social media and television, Martin said.

Doing that likely will require more than $1 million in donations, he said. A decade ago, when city voters approved the $550 million Better Denver Bonds program, the campaign committee raised and spent more than $1.6 million, finance records show.

In June, the new committee paid $18,000 to a fundraising consultant and $35,000 to a polling firm for research. Martin declined to share any survey results. He did confirm that On-