Veronica Acosta joined Denver7 in January 2021 as a reporter.
DENVER — Roughly one month after the Regional Transportation District , or RTD , approved its $1.5-billion budget for 2026 and acknowledged a nearly $250 million budget deficit, it has sent all of its employees a memo detailing what's to come.
The memo was sent on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. In it, the transportation agency acknowledges 'an unprecedented economic situation that is plagued by uncertainty,' and goes on to say 'the financial challenges facing RTD are significant and will require several difficult decisions and actions in the coming months.'You can read the memo in the embed below: On Friday, Denver7's Veronica Acosta spoke with transit advocate James Flattum, the co-founder of Greater Denver Transit, about the transit agency's budget issues and the memo. 'We're deeply worried about the budget,' Flattum said. 'We're depleting this reserve that we have, right? It's going to be a couple of years that we're going to be in a really serious financial situation, and that kind of adds complexity right to what was announced back in November.'In regards to the memo, Flattum told Denver7 he doesn't know what actions RTD will take.'We don't know for sure,' he said. 'If I had to guess based on the talking points for management over the last couple of board meetings, RTD is going to do everything they can to avoid cuts to frontline staff.'Their goal is to preserve service the way it is at service levels that we had in 2025, so the hope is that the frontline staff are going to be kept,' he went on to say.Denver7 also spoke with Matt Larsen, a member of RTD's Board of Directors representing District E. Larsen said he was aware of the memo and commended RTD leadership for sending it. 'I thought that that was a smart thing to do,' he said. 'I mean, that is the reality.'Denver7 reached out to RTD for an interview, in an email, a spokesperson said they were 'unable to provide an interview,' adding, 'As stated in the memo, no final decisions have been made. RTD is carefully reviewing all expenses and exploring cost-saving actions. More information will be made available in the coming weeks, including during Board meetings held this month.'The next board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 24.
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