The reasons for Colorado’s budget crises are multifold. Yet, an undeniably significant portion of our challenges stem from growing Medicaid costs, particularly those attributable to a rapidly growing population of aging Coloradans.
Colorado voters favored increased spending, increased taxes, and exempting local tax revenue from TABOR, showing an overall readiness to move toward funding community priorities like education, transportation, child care, health care, and other crucial programs.
Current public funding levels fall significantly short in adequately supporting caregivers of older adults in Colorado. Investing in both paid and unpaid care will support older adults in need of care and support those who dedicate themselves to caregiving, creating a more sustainable and effective care ecosystem.
The Bell has developed a Home Care Cost Model for older adults, an important tool for researchers, advocates, and decision makers, as they strive to understand the implications of policy choices on the care economy, its workers, and the older Coloradans who rely upon it.
Several local governments are asking their voters to opt out of the revenue cap imposed by TABOR and redirect some of the funds from lodging taxes to address child care and affordable housing needs in these communities.
As more states have adopted voucher programs, spending for public schools has decreased, disproportionately hurting students in higher poverty areas.
The September revenue forecast shows an increasingly constrained fiscal situation for the state of Colorado. Lawmakers will face a $921 million dollar difference between projected expenses and allowable revenue.
Colorado is one of the fastest aging states, and 70 percent of older adults will need some form of direct care to help with activities of daily living. What this means is that direct care for older adults will become ever more important.
Over the past several years, Colorado has implemented a series of legislative actions to address rising property taxes, balancing relief efforts with the need to protect essential local services, particularly K-12 education, while introducing structural changes to stabilize future property tax revenue.
Homestead exemptions are one of the few progressive options for reducing property taxes, providing a relatively greater benefit for homeowners of middle value property.
