Colorado Budget Deficit Exposes the Bill Coming Due

Marianne Goodland’s latest piece in the Denver Gazette walks through the ugly arithmetic of Colorado’s 2026-27 budget, where lawmakers are trying to patch a deficit of more than $1 billion while pretending this is all just a rough patch instead of the bill coming due. The article tracks the House wrestling with orbital bills, reserve reductions, program cuts, and fund transfers as the majority tries to force this lopsided budget back into constitutional shape.

Goodland reports that the Joint Budget Committee was staring at a $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion general fund hole, depending on which forecast they used, and chose the governor’s more optimistic number. That is always comforting. Nothing says sound fiscal management quite like picking the rosier forecast while standing in a budget crater. The article also notes Republicans arguing the shortfall came from Democrats expanding services and creating new programs even when major deficits were already visible on the horizon.

The story then moves through the specific cuts and raids: ending the final year of a teacher recruitment program, shifting $130 million out of Proposition 123 housing money into the general fund, trimming the state reserve from 15% to 13%, and capping the Cover All Coloradans program after its cost blew past the original estimate. By the end, the House was back to reading the main budget bill aloud in full, because apparently this is what governing looks like after years of performative compassion collides with fourth-grade math.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Colorado is plugging a budget hole north of $1 billion, and the people acting surprised are the same people who treated one-time money like it came with a lifetime refill.
• The Joint Budget Committee picked the governor’s more optimistic forecast, because when your budget is on fire, apparently the first move is positive thinking.
• One bill pulls $130 million from Proposition 123 housing money into the general fund, which is a neat trick if your guiding philosophy is “voter intent, until we need the cash.”
• The Cover All Coloradans program got capped after costs exploded from an estimated $26 million to more than $100 million, with a projected $130 million price tag for 2026-27. Funny how “compassion” always gets louder right before taxpayers get handed the invoice.
• Democrats are trimming reserves, fiddling with side funds, and cutting around the edges, but the article makes plain what they do not want to admit: this budget mess is not bad luck. It is the entirely predictable result of a governing class that confuses activism with accounting.

My Bottom Line

This is what happens when one party runs the table and mistakes ideology for competence. Democrats used temporary COVID-era money to build permanent spending habits, because saying no to a new program would have interfered with the applause. Now the sugar high is over, the money is gone, and the rest of us get to watch them rummage through cushions, reserves, and voter-approved funds to cover the hole.

And yes, Proposition 123 should be a flashing red light here. Voters approved that money for affordable housing. Not as a rainy-day slush fund for lawmakers who cannot control themselves. But when the Capitol’s ruling class runs short, every dedicated fund suddenly starts looking like “available flexibility.” Amazing how fast principle disappears when the spreadsheet turns ugly.

Then there is Cover All Coloradans, which the article says was estimated at $26 million when created and then topped more than $100 million, with a $130 million estimate for next year. That is not a minor miss. That is fiscal malpractice with a press release attached. And still, the instinct on the left is to protect the symbolism, scold anyone who notices the cost, and look for cuts everywhere except the bloated sanctimony machine they built.

This is a bad budget born from bad habits and worse priorities. Democrats would rather raid funds, shave reserves, and flirt with your TABOR protections than admit their pet projects are unaffordable. For the people who keep voting this crowd into power because orange man hurts their feelings, congratulations, this is your prize. The rest of us get stuck paying for it too.

Source: Denver Gazette