Six things to know about Colorado’s $38.5B budget

BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

No new federal COVID-19 dollars. Record in ation. State services stretched thin by a growing population.

ose are the circumstances under which the Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee this year drafted the $38.5 billion state budget that takes e ect July 1.

“It’s not a sexy budget,” said state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who chairs the JBC. “It’s pretty conservative.”

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican who sits on the JBC, called next year’s spending plan a “get ’er done budget.”

But it’s still packed with plenty of notable items. Here’s what you need to know about the budget — being debated by the legislature right now — and how it may a ect you: e general fund portion of the scal year 2023-24 budget, which is the money state lawmakers have discretion over, is up 8.9% over the current year to $14.7 billion. But Zenzinger said about two-thirds of that new spending is going toward Medicaid, the state and federal program that provides health insurance to lowincome people. e JBC also set aside $30 million for the legislature to spend on miscellaneous bills and new, ongoing programs. For the current scal year, it was more than double that amount.

Of the Medicaid dollars, $442 million will be allocated to replacing federal matching funds that are going away as the Biden administration ends the COVID-19 public health emergency and eliminates the enhanced federal Medicaid match rate. Another $396 million was set aside to handle projected increases in Medicaid enrollment because of a slowing economy, as well as for a 3% increase in health care provider rates.

Zenzinger said the rest of the increase is going toward ensuring the state has a 15% reserve in preparation for an economic downturn and to account for in ation’s e ect on the state’s ability to o er government services. e Department of Corrections, for instance, will get $275,000 to cover the increased cost of food served to prison inmates, as well as $1 million for a jump in the cost of utilities.

Overall, the budget is smaller than it was last year when you take into consideration the federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars the state had to spend in the current scal year, which ends June 30.

Keep in mind: e Colorado legislature is constrained in how much it can spend each year by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which caps government growth based on population increases and the rate of in ation.

While Republicans complain that the state budget is growing too large, it’s TABOR — which conservatives adore and Democrats generally loathe — that really determines the size of the budget.

It’s still up to lawmakers — mainly the Democratic majority in the House and Senate — how the money is spent, but TABOR is the real deciding factor of the top-line number.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said during budget debate in the Senate last week that he wishes the legislature would stop creating new programs and o ces and focus its money on core government responsibilities: education and roads.

“I will be a ‘no’ vote, not in strenuous objection to this budget but in a call of a pursuit of a policy horizon that honors rst our constitutionally mandated requirements and honors rst that which should be our primary priority: the full funding of public education in Colorado,” he said.

One other thing to keep in mind: TABOR requires the state to refund any money it collects over the cap. Next scal year, that’s expected to be e in ation rate used to calculate the cap, however, lags current conditions, so state budget writers 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.

$2.7 billion.

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

- $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