STANDARD BLADE B R I G H T O N
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1903
75cI
VOLUME 117
Issue 1
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2021
Former med student opens Brighton insurance office Nepalese immigrant ready to settle in to new location BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Sunil Pathnak opened his doors to offer insurance protection to the community and celebrated his new business a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Brighton Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, December 16. “I’m still new to the business and learning, but I’m familiar with the area and have been here in Brighton doing a lot of different activities,” said Pathnak. Pathnak is originally from Nepal and studied medical school in Russia in 1994. He came back to the United States in 1997 with ambitions to continue with medical school. “I wanted to continue medical school in the states but due to the foreign status at that time I could not complete medical school,” Pathnak. When Pathnak could not complete medical school then he studied computer science, information, and telecommunications and finished his minor in 2002 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Then he moved to Texas with
Sunil Pathnak cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening of his Allstate insurance company with the Brighton Chamber of Commerce, PHOTO BY BELEN WARD Mayor Greg Mills, members of the chamber board and the community.
the motivation to start a business but to get the business experience he worked in the summer at Shell, and Chevron and got the opportunity to own a Churches Chicken. “In 2009, I moved to Colorado and had the opportunity to start a UPS store we started our first venture in Boulder Gun Barrel, then started another location in Broomfield. We expanded to twelve UPS stores in four different states. We now have three different stores in Colorado,
Wyoming, and Nebraska,” said Pathnak. With Pathnak extensive experience starting businesses he was ready for his next venture and started to look into the Allstate Insurance business. “I thought maybe this is a better opportunity I’ve been looking for so I talk to this gentleman who had an Allstate franchise in front of my UPS store in Broomfield. I talked to him for a couple of months and it took us a year to
get the process done. I took over Mike Cummings Allstate Insurance office in August of 2021. Pathak lives in Hudson with his family and is very involved with the community of Brighton and also enters the car shows as a hobby. Sunil Pathak Agency Principal for Sunny Pathak Allstate Agency, 710 E. Bridge St., Brighton, CO 80601. Office 303-659-8600, cell 214-642-7175. Email: sunilpathak@ allstate.com
State’s fiscal outlook keeps getting better Larger TABOR refunds on the horizon BY DANIEL DUCASSI AND JESSE PAUL COLORADO SUN
Economists are more optimistic about Colorado’s tax revenue future than they were three months ago, even though labor and inflation strains continue and amid uncertainty caused by COVID-19. The headwinds have so far not been “strong enough to slow the impressive growth,” said Meredith
Moon, the deputy director of the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting. OSPB and nonpartisan legislative staff presented separate, but equally rosy budget forecasts to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee on Friday. Economists for both agreed that state tax revenue will end up higher than previously expected. The nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff estimated there will be nearly $800 million more in revenue for the state’s general fund this fiscal year, which began in July and ends June 30, than they predicted in September, and more than $500
LOCAL OPINION SPORTS LEGALS CLASSIFIEDS
Outlook barely affects budget
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million in additional revenue for the next fiscal year than their previous forecast showed. That compares with slightly lower estimates from OSPB economists who say there will be about $700 million more in revenue for the state’s general fund this fiscal year than in their last forecast, and about $420 million more for the next fiscal year than they previously thought. “Colorado’s economy is coming back strong,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a written statement. “This forecast shows a robust recovery.”
LOCAL
2 •New neighborhood 3 social service hub ready 7 to help 11 14
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SPORTS • A look back local high school sports in 2021
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The improved outlook ultimately means little for how much state lawmakers will have to spend in next year’s budget. Tax dollars in the next three fiscal years were already expected to exceed limits on state revenue in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, meaning the Friday forecasts predicting even more tax dollars flowing into state coffers simply means that more money will have to be refunded to taxpayers. Nonpartisan legislative staff now anticipate about $2 billion of annual TABOR surplus revenue in each SEE OUTLOOK, P4
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