budget cuts

By Karen Auge and Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post

Slashing $375 million from Colorado's public schools, as Gov. John Hickenlooper has proposed, could cost teachers' jobs and shrink the paychecks of many who remain, and would mean nearly $500 less spent on each schoolchild.

Deep cuts to education were widely expected. Nevertheless, the actual numbers delivered by Hickenlooper Tuesday hit educators like a gut punch.

Peter Marcus
Denver Daily News

There's nothing like historic budget cuts to end a newly elected politician's honeymoon – that and a good snow storm.

Gov. John Hickenlooper already had his brush with public bitterness stemming from a blizzard in 2006 when he was mayor of Denver. This time around, he is dealing with bitterness stemming from a proposed $411 million in cuts to education, including a historic $375 million in cuts to K-12 education, and another $36 million from higher education.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his budget for fiscal year 2010-11 to members of the Joint Budget Committee today.

He is requesting a $7.2 billion General Fund budget for fiscal year 2010-2011, which begins on July 1, 2010. This budget closes a $1 billion shortfall between projected General Fund revenues and expenditures and comes on the heels of a $2 billion shortfall in fiscal year 2009-10.

By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal
Oct. 28, 2009

Medicaid providers will take another hit in the latest round of budget cuts unveiled by Gov. Bill Ritter Wednesday, but business leaders who have been asking him not to cut tax exemptions and credits can breathe a sigh of relief for now.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented a plan to the Joint Budget Committee today that closes an additional $271 million shortfall in the state budget for fiscal year 2009-10.

When combined with the $320 million in cuts he proposed in August, it eliminates a gap projected to be $589.4 million below September's revenue forecast.

Ritter used a mix of one-time cuts, transfers and federal funds to balance the budget.

By Laura Chapin
Posted on Huffington Post/Denver

If you're a parent whose post-college graduate child has returned to sleeping at your home, you're not alone. And if you're a recent college graduate who has been out there beating the employment bushes and finding them beating you right back, you are also not alone.

Wade joins in a discussion
on the state budget and funding cuts
on Rocky Mountain PBS'

Colorado State of Mind
Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 6

(Channel 8 in Pueblo and Colorado Springs,
Channel 18 in Grand Junction and western Colorado)

Also on the program:

Economists with the Legislative Council project that General Fund revenues in the current fiscal year will come in $240 million below budgeted appropriations. This is even after the $320 million in cuts Gov. Bill Ritter announced in August.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his plan to balance the fiscal year 2009-10 budget today before a packed house at a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee. The overall plan totals $320 million and includes $261.2 million in cuts to the General Fund, $39.8 million in transfers from cash funds and $19 million in other revenues and reserve changes.

Colorado remains mired in a deep recession. General Fund revenues are projected to fall short by more than $1 billion over the next two fiscal years.  

Budget cuts are a certainty. They will be real, and they will hurt. That makes it imperative that Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators approach budget decisions thoughtfully and strategically.