C R O W S S U P D R O E L Z Z BUDGET

FROM say while the amount of money they have to spend appears large, it’s not keeping up with economic conditions that have increased the cost of governing. ere are a handful of line items in next year’s budget that could be described as (somewhat) big-ticket items. e legislature set aside money two years ago so Colorado could buy its rst Firehawk. e chopper still hasn’t been put in service, however. e budget also sets aside another $1.7 million to operate and sta the new helicopter.

- $26 million to purchase a second Sikorski S-70 Black Hawk helicopter that will be converted into a “Firehawk” that can battle wildland res.

- $3.2 million for Senate Bill 13, which would help the Division of Fire Prevention and Control investigate the causes and origins of res, with a priority on investigations into wild res.

- $15 million toward a new O ce of School Safety in the Department of Public Safety that will house a variety of existing e orts to prevent and respond to tragedies at K-12 schools. at represents about $9 million in new spending that will help expand some of those existing initiatives. e Senate also passed an amendment allocating an additional $10 million in new spending for a grant program in the new o ce.

- $7.3 million to account for a forecast increase in the state’s prison population.

- $221 million set aside for forthcoming property tax relief legislation, as well as other housing-related bills.

- $115 million to implement Proposition FF, a ballot measure passed by voters in November that raises taxes on wealthy Coloradans to pay for universal free lunches in public schools. e money will be repaid to the general fund once the tax collections begin.

- $120,000 to respond to the decision to disband Tri-County Health Department and to help Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams counties stand up their own public health agencies.

- $1.6 million that includes funding to hire 14 people to represent the state in Colorado River water negotiations.

State Sen. Je Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat who sits on the JBC, said one of his favorite line items in the budget is a $416,000 allocation to hire ve people in the Department of Veterans A airs to help connect Colorado veterans with the bene ts they earned.

“ is is an investment to help veterans get the bene ts they’re entitled to — that they’ve sacri ced for — that the Department of Veterans a airs makes nearly impossible to access,” Bridges said, calling the agency a “labyrinth.”

An item that would likely go overlooked? A $9 million spend on a technology building at Adams State University in the San Luis Valley. Without it, students at the Alamosa school could be left without internet access, Bridges said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wanted the budget to cap the amount staterun colleges and universities can raise undergraduate, in-state student tuition at 4%, but the legislature decided on 5% with the exception of the University of Northern Colorado, which will be able to increase tuition by 6%.

Zenzinger said the state’s higher education institutions had an 11% gap in their mandatory costs and that even with allowing for such a large tuition increase they will only have enough money to close the gap at 10.1%.

“My biggest regret (about the budget) is that we just were not able to close that gap fully,” she said.

Zenzinger said the JBC was trying to meet schools’ nancial needs without pricing students out of higher education. If the legislature were to allocate enough money to colleges and universities to cap tuition at 4% it wouldn’t have had any money left for new legislation and ongoing programs.

Total state funding for higher education in the budget was increased by $147 million to $1.4 billion. e scal year 2023-24 budget includes $485 million more in K-12 education funding than in the current year, which represents a $900

SEE BUDGET, P23

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