Colorado Politics reports that Gov. Jared Polis has signed Colorado’s $46.87 billion state budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, a spending plan built through cuts, transfers, and budget gymnastics after lawmakers faced a deficit of more than $1 billion.
The article, by Marianne Goodland, captures the mood perfectly: nobody loved it, nobody bragged too loudly, and nobody wanted to take questions. That may be the most honest budget-signing ceremony Colorado has seen in years.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Polis signed a $46.87 billion budget that is somehow both a “cut” budget and larger than the $43.9 billion budget approved a year ago. Government math remains a magical woodland creature.
- Lawmakers had to balance the budget because Colorado cannot run federal-style trillion-dollar deficits, which is another way of saying TABOR and basic adult responsibility still occasionally enter the room.
- Medicaid is the flashing red light on the dashboard, with the article noting $1 billion in cost overruns and allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. Apparently, “free money” got expensive. Who knew?
- K-12 education was fully funded, which both parties pointed to as a bright spot. Good. Kids should not be the first hostage taken when the spending class discovers arithmetic.
- Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer had it right: “This is not a budget that we can love, but it’s a budget that got the job done.” That is not a bumper sticker. It is more like a sigh from someone who had to clean up after a frat party at the Capitol.
My Bottom Line
If no one is happy, maybe that is a good sign for we the people.
When Colorado’s ruling elite Democrats look miserable while signing a $47 billion budget, I do not hear a tragedy. I hear TABOR doing its job. Thank God for it. The same folks who would spend every nickel twice and then ask voters for couch change suddenly had to make choices. That is not cruelty. That is budgeting.
And yes, they can cut more. There is always more fat. Always more bloat. Always another program that was born in a committee room, fed by lobbyists, protected by bureaucrats, and never once asked to prove it deserves to live. Government does not trim itself. It has to be put on a diet by force, usually while screaming about “devastating cuts” from inside a building full of people with pensions.
They will blame TABOR. They always do. TABOR is the villain because it stands between taxpayers and the Capitol’s favorite hobby: spending money like a teenager with someone else’s credit card. But this budget shows the truth. When the pressure is on, priorities emerge. Education was protected. Health care access remained on the table. Public safety was named as a priority. That is what happens when government has to choose instead of inhale.
This budget is not lovable. Fine. Government budgets are not supposed to be love letters. They are supposed to be disciplined, honest, and limited. Colorado still has a structural spending problem, and the people who built it are now shocked to find themselves living inside it. But if the elites are scowling, TABOR is working, and taxpayers still have a seat at the table. That is a win.
Source: Colorado Politics
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