With new money flowing into state coffers, the candidates vying to become Colorado’s treasurer both want to shore up the state’s emergency reserves.
Both Republican Mark Hillman and Democrat Cary Kennedy agree the state should capture some of the money freed up by passage of Referendum C to bolster the state’s rainy day reserve fund.
Hillman, a former state Senator, wants a constitutional amendment that would create a rainy day fund that could only be tapped if two-thirds of the legislature votes to do so or if shortfalls occur.
Hillman said without the constitutional amendment, the legislature will end up spending the money, even when it’s not necessary.
“The point I’m making is that the budget process is always a game for the legislature to find out where the joint budget committee has hidden money,” Hillman said.
Kennedy said that she wants to boost the state’s uncommitted reserves from the current 4 percent to that of most other states, 8 percent.
“I feel very strongly we need to do a better job with the rainy day fund,” Kennedy said.
She also is campaigning to make it easier for the public to access information from treasurer’s office web site.
She would like to post annual reports, information about private business with contracts with the treasurer’s office and a host of other state finance information on the website.
“I see it as very important that taxpayers have access to all financial transactions,” Kennedy said.Hillman said he would like to stop the legislature from tapping the state’s school trust fund unless there’s a budget shortfall. That fund currently generates about $33 million a year for school funding from land leases, land sale and interest income generated by excess land the state owns.
Hillman said the state should only tap it when there’s a shortfall, allowing it to grow and generate additional interest income.
Kennedy was the author of Colorado’s Amendment 23, the K-12 education spending mandate voters approved in 2000. Hillman, like many other Republicans at the Capitol, blames the amendment for the state’s shrinking reserves in recent years.
The two also differed on Referendum C, with Hillman opposed to it while Kennedy helped write it. Kennedy is the former policy director for Democratic state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or at cosher@denverpost.com.
