Colorado Lawmaker Pay Raises Hit During Budget Cuts

The Colorado Sun reports that, even as lawmakers slash spending to deal with a $1.5 billion budget shortfall, Colorado legislators and statewide elected officials are set to receive automatic pay raises next year under a 2024 law. The increases were recommended by an independent commission that found current salaries lag behind other states and don’t reflect the scope of the work. fileciteturn3file0

The raises vary. State lawmakers would see about a 6% bump, bringing base pay to roughly $51,000 annually, with additional per diem payments on top. Higher offices get bigger jumps, with increases ranging from 11% to as much as 45% depending on the position. All of this comes as the state cuts services and tightens its belt elsewhere.

The Bullet Point Brief

Lawmakers are getting a pay raise during a budget crunch. Optics are… not great.
The base salary for legislators would land around $51,000, plus per diem that can add thousands more depending on where they live.
The raises come from a 2024 law and an independent commission, so technically lawmakers are not voting themselves a mid-session raise. Convenient timing though.
Statewide officials get much bigger bumps, up to 45% in some cases. Not exactly rounding errors.
Meanwhile, the state is cutting services, trimming Medicaid, and skipping raises for state workers. Priorities tell a story.

My Bottom Line

Here’s where I’m going to lose some people.

I am not opposed to legislators getting paid more. In fact, I think the opposite argument deserves more scrutiny than it gets.

Right now, the structure of legislative pay in Colorado quietly rigs who can afford to serve. If you are semi-retired, independently wealthy, self-employed, or fresh out of college with a high tolerance for ramen noodles, congratulations, you are the ideal candidate. Everyone else has to figure out how to pause a real career for months at a time and still pay the mortgage.

And yes, before someone fires off an email, the session is not the whole job. The calendar on paper says January through early May. Reality says year-round. Interim committees. Constituent work. Travel. The kind of responsibilities most employers are not exactly flexible about.

So what happens? You get a legislature skewed toward people who can afford the gig, not necessarily people who reflect the full cross-section of Colorado. And sometimes, you get lawmakers who go find “creative” ways to fill the income gap. Nonprofits that just happen to align with their political worldview. Fundraising ecosystems that blur lines. Let’s call it what it is. That is where conflicts of interest start to creep in.

Now here is the catch.

Even with this raise, we are still not talking about a true living wage for a job with these demands. It is a bump, not a fix. And dropping it in the middle of budget cuts makes it look like the Capitol is taking care of itself while tightening the screws on everyone else.

Two things can be true at once. The optics are bad. And the underlying issue is real.

If you want a legislature that looks like Colorado, you have to make it financially possible for normal people to serve. Not just the wealthy, not just the ideologically driven, and not just the folks with flexible income streams on the side.

It is called public service for a reason. But that does not mean it should only be available to people who can afford to lose money doing it.

Source: The Colorado Sun