The Colorado legislature passed a $14.9 billion budget Thursday that restores some of the cuts made to state programs during several years of declining or stagnant spending.
Final approval of the spending plan for the state came after several weeks of wrangling over spending priorities for everything from state colleges to health care for the poor.
The House voted 41-23, and the Senate approved the 675-page legislation 25-7. Known as the Long Bill, the budget will govern spending in the fiscal year starting July 1.
And while the bill didn’t make huge spending increases, it restores some money to programs hit hard by the recent recession.
For instance, Joint Budget Committee chairman Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, highlighted:
$3 million – $1 million more than staff recommended – for senior programs such as Meals on Wheels.
$1 million for a rehabilitation program for young people on the verge of being sent to prison, the program’s first increase in at least three years.
$2 million for drug and alcohol prevention programs, the first increase in four years.
“We actually did put money into (the) prevention side,’ said Tapia, adding that prevention is often cheaper than prison.
Lawmakers were able to delay massive cuts to state services with some accounting maneuvers and a little luck.
A computer error and an accounting change, more federal money for primary and secondary education, and a change in unemployment-insurance payments allowed lawmakers to cover a $208.2 million shortfall for next year. That money also helped balance the budget this year.
Legislators are hoping that voters approve a ballot question in November that will let the state keep about $3.1 billion more over five years than it is constitutionally allowed to.
If voters don’t approve the measure, lawmakers are predicting deep reductions in state services.
“We’re going to do wholesale cuts, like community colleges will go away, like state parks will go away … universities will become private,’ Tapia said. “That’s our future if we aren’t able to keep up with this growth.’
The budget increases for the next financial year help but don’t fill the need, lawmakers and some organizations said.
For instance, the legislature decided to fund six new judges next year but is still two years behind funding the 12 new judges promised in 2001, said Sherry Kester, the Judicial Department’s director of planning.
“It’s definitely going to be helpful because cases have continued to increase,’ Kester said. “We would have liked to get all 12.’
Not everyone was happy with the spending plan. Some House and Senate Republicans voted against the bill because they thought a fund for primary and secondary education was getting too much money.
“We are overfunding the State Education Fund at the expense of everything,’ said Republican Rep. Joshua Penry of Grand Junction.
But Democratic Rep. Tom Plant of Nederland, budget committee vice chairman, said K-12 education spending increased by 2 percent. The additional money put into the fund is akin to a savings account legislators can use to fund expenses next year.
“This is planning ahead. I know it’s an odd concept,’ he said. “It’s not something we’ve done a lot in the past.’
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
