Denver transit district projects $148M deficit, $1.34B budget

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) - Denver’s major transportation provider expects a $148 million deficit and a $1.34 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027

For FY 2027, Regional Transportation District Denver expects to collect $1.19 billion in revenue, according to the proposed budget. Hence, the deficit.

The agency will consider adopting its budget on Dec. 1.

RTD is working to eliminate its estimated $148 million deficit by 2028. The agency said it reduced the deficit from $282 million in FY 2024.

Pauline Haberman, RTD’s project manager for special projects, said the agency’s “approach to improving financial efficiency includes reviewing service delivery costs, evaluating administrative and contractual spending, assessing staffing needs and identifying opportunities to align resources better with operational priorities.”

She told The Center Square that the agency “actively manages its capital structure and financial resources to maximize financial flexibility and achieve long-term savings." She also said the district's work includes "strategically investing available funds, evaluating opportunities to restructure or refund outstanding debt and pursuing favorable marketing conditions to reduce borrowing costs.”

She highlighted RTD refinancing debt to save the agency $20 million.  

If revenues fail to meet RTD’s projections, Haberman said potential responses included “delaying discretionary spending, reevaluating outside contracts and reviewing the timing of projects that do not directly affect safety or critical service delivery.”

“The agency’s priority should be to respond early to changing financial conditions rather than allowing temporary revenue shortfalls to develop into larger structural imbalances,” she noted.

RTD’s proposed budget projects operating costs of $915 million in FY 2027, a $206 million decrease from FY 2026 before factoring in East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit expenses that carry into FY 2027. Excluding the East Colfax expenses, outside service spending would reduce by $58 million, she explained.

To stop expenses from getting to previous levels, Haberman told The Center Square by email that RTD “established spending controls, evaluates contract renewals against operational needs and incorporates verified recurring savings into financial forecasts.”

RTD plans to spend $615.2 million on capital projects in FY 2027, according to its proposed budget. Part of that money will go toward the Downtown Rail Reconstruction Project, expected to be finished next year.

DJ Summers, Common Sense Institute Colorado’s director of communications and research operations, told The Center Square that RTD relies heavily on sales and use taxes for its revenue.

In FY 2027, RTD projects $940 million in tax revenue, which will make up 79% of its projected funding sources. RTD collects a 1% sales tax on taxable purchases within the Denver Metro area.

Haberman said RTD’s “structural deficit cannot be addressed simply by relying on revenue growth,” adding that it will require an “ongoing evaluation of the relationship between revenues, service commitments and operating expenses.”

“RTD’s financial planning should, therefore, prioritize recurring cost controls, effective procurement, appropriate staffing levels, operating efficiencies and disciplined capital and operating budget management,” she explained.

Summers told The Center Square that RTD ridership dropped by almost half between 2019 and 2022, which includes the COVID-19 pandemic. Ridership grew 4% following the pandemic.

In 2019, RTD’s ridership was 105.8 million people, and in 2025, it fell to 60.2 million. Through July 2026, RTD saw 38.4 million riders this year.

“Colorado has invested a great deal into RTD, and ridership ought to be the chief metric to demonstrate why it is worth this kind of public dollars,” Summers explained.

Haberman said RTD “recognizes the importance of aligning operating expenses with customer demand while maintaining reliable and accessible public transportation throughout the Denver metro region.”

She noted the agency “faces financial pressures associated with the discontinuation of federal COVID-era relief funds, inflation, rising labor costs, state-of-good-repair expenditures and the expense of operating a complex regional transit system.”

“Boardings are an important performance measure, but they are not the only factor determining the cost of providing transit service,” Haberman explained.

She added that the agency needs to consider “geographic coverage, service reliability, accessibility, personal safety and security, and obligations to the communities it serves that are represented by its publicly elected 15-member board of directors.”