On Monday March 6, Denver residents who visited their Department of Motor Vehicles to renew their car registration were met with a surprise. As of that date, the city shifted its renewals to alternatives including online, mail or through kiosks. The human being at the front of the line couldn’t help with that task anymore. This action will help the city to maintain a DMV hiring freeze.

While this kind of efficiency measure isn’t uncommon, in Denver’s case it was one of the ramifications of budgetary pressures brought about by an ongoing migrant crisis in the city. Like many other major cities, Denver had long been hoping that the federal government would step in and help resolve this issue. 

But those efforts appear to be dead in the water, right now, and so as the city’s Mayor Mike Johnson told the Washington Post Online, “We hoped there would be federal support, Now that the Congress has shown us there won’t be, we will figure this out on our own. And so, we have to figure out a plan for shared sacrifice, we will have to make some cuts to city budgets and city services without trying to impact those that are most at risk.”

The cuts in the DMV aren’t the only ones the city has made. They will also affect “30 city recreation centers with reduced operating hours and a 25% cut in spring programming,” according to an article in The People’s Network.

Left in the lurch by the federal government, this kind of action is likely inevitable in many other cities. As New York’s mayor pronounced when announcing budget cuts a couple of months ago, “Don’t yell at me, yell at D.C.”

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