Walsh attended the December 4 meeting of Denver City Council’s Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee to propose a 4 percent increase in salary each year he will be in office, accounting for an overall 16.99 percent increase over Walsh’s four-year term. The change would make his inaugural salary $254,609 instead of $244,816.
“It would not have been my choice to come before you for the first time asking for a salary increase, but that's what the law requires, and that's why I'm here today,” Walsh told the council committee.
A state law last amended in 2024 requires salaries for district attorneys to be set right as the DA’s four-year term begins, putting Walsh — and all incoming Colorado DAs — in a weird place.
So even though Walsh has yet to serve as Denver’s DA, he is proposing an annual 4 percent increase to the district attorney’s salary that must be passed before he takes office. Currently, the DA’s annual salary increase starts at 1 percent and can go as high as 3 percent commensurate with the raise that career service employees in Denver receive each year.
Walsh, who ran unopposed after defeating fellow Democrat Leora Joseph in the June primary, said his proposal is needed “to make up some of the lost ground due to the substantial increase in consumer prices over the last eight years, and also ensure that the Denver District Attorney's Office and the Denver DA pay scale is commensurate with other offices in the state.”
In 2024, Beth McCann — Denver’s outgoing DA — made $244,816. When McCann’s term as DA began in 2017, the salary was $219,606, so her salary rose 11.4 percent over her time in office.
As Walsh pointed out in his presentation, other DAs in the state with fewer employees in their offices make more, including in the 4th Judicial District in El Paso County, where the DA makes $265,000, and in the 17th in Brighton, where the DA makes $295,000. Both of these offices have over 33 percent fewer employees than the Denver DA’s office.
In Boulder, the DA currently makes $255,739 a year but has requested a 4 percent annual increase.
According to Walsh, the cost of consumer goods has risen by 32.1 percent since 2016 while the DA’s salary has only risen by 11 percent, decreasing the buying power of the salary by about 20 percent.
That doesn't mean that councilmembers were ready to buy what the DA-in-waiting is selling, however.
The slide in Walsh's presentation some Denver City Council members said was "rough."
Denver District Attorney's Office
“I am a little put off by this,” Councilman Kevin Flynn said of the cost-of-living element of Walsh’s presentation. “If you're making a quarter of a million dollars, I wouldn't worry about the cost of gas or eggs, like a lot of people were worried about for the last couple of years. I would worry more about people in the $50,000-and-below category.”
Councilmember Paul Kashmann agreed with Flynn that the slide Walsh used to illustrate inflation’s impact on the DA’s salary was “rough” before asking how well the Denver DA’s staff is paid compared to the staff of other DA’s offices in the state. Additionally, Kashmann asked if the state public defender’s salary would also be going up.
Walsh said he wasn’t sure but would circle back with the council to figure that out.
Councilmember Sarah Parady added to the queries, asking what the lowest-paid member of Walsh’s future office makes. Longtime DA chief of staff Liza Willis said that number is $55,000.
“The cost of living in Denver is about $84,00,” Parady said. “It's hard for me to see allocating this money to the DA when we could be preserving it to raise up some of the lowest-paid workers in the city, including in that office.”
Another element of Walsh’s argument focused on the idea that the Denver DA needs to be paid at a competitive rate in order to attract the best candidates for the position. Councilmembers were warmer to that idea, including Chris Hinds, who helped sponsor the bill, but others suggested that the salary is already appropriate.
“I look at this pay range, and it looks perfectly solid today for this kind of public service role,” Parady, who came to city council after years as an attorney, told Walsh. “I'm not that compelled by the thought that people aren't going to take the job, because I think people who are motivated to serve Denver will take the job for $245,000 a year, as you did when you ran.”
The state legislature contributes a portion of the DA’s salary and the county pays the rest. However, the legislature hasn’t adjusted those amounts since 2010, according to Walsh. Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval took issue with the fact that Walsh hadn’t made an effort to ask the state to increase its contribution before coming to council.
Sandoval said that after approving a city budget with position freezes and 5 percent budget cuts to most departments, the idea of a 4 percent pay increase for one person wasn’t sitting right with her, either.
“It feels a little bit awkward sitting here, when I'm thinking about other resources that our agencies need,” Sandoval said.
Walsh said his proposal accounted for the tight budget situation the City of Denver is currently in by proposing annual increases rather than an up-front jump to make the salary match up with inflation.
“It feels awkward for me, as well,” he acknowledged. “I would prefer to do exactly what you suggested and actually would support the notion of going to the state legislature and suggesting a greater contribution going forward. But under state law, this is the only time to ask for any increase for the whole four-year term. That's what makes this awkward.”
The awkwardness will continue at the December 16 city council meeting, which is when committee members ultimately agreed — with some hesitation — to introduce the salary-increase bill to the full council.
