The Colorado Sun reports that Colorado’s budget picture has improved, but not enough to reverse cuts to public services. Legislative forecasters called the outlook a “best case scenario,” noting lawmakers may not need deep new cuts next year and could begin rebuilding reserves, but the state still faces long-term budget pressure from rising health care costs, federal cuts, volatile revenue, and household financial stress.
So yes, Colorado got better news. Not good news. Better. There is a difference, and the Capitol class should learn it before they start acting like somebody found a gold mine under the JBC hearing room. If the “best case scenario” still leaves cuts on the table, then the problem is not a seasonal hiccup. It is structural. It is habits. It is promises outrunning money like a dog eating the same extension cord every spring.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Lawmakers are now expected to end the current fiscal year with a $116 million surplus, and they may avoid another $1 billion shortfall in the 2027-28 budget. Great. That is not fiscal genius. That is finding a few coins in the couch after two years of budget heartburn.
- If the state wants to restore reserves to 15% of general fund spending, the Sun reports lawmakers would still need to cut $315 million. So the “best case” still comes with a knife. Funny how that part never makes it into the victory-lap brochure.
- The relief is expected to be temporary. Health care and other costs are still rising faster than the state is allowed to spend under TABOR in most years. Naturally, the ruling class will blame TABOR before blaming its own addiction to permanent promises funded with temporary money.
- TABOR refunds are expected to return in the next two budget years, though not at pandemic-era levels. Taxpayers getting some of their own money back will be treated in Denver like a home invasion committed by arithmetic.
- The economy is flashing warning lights. The article notes deteriorating household finances, credit card delinquencies at Great Recession levels, weak job growth in many sectors, and a 40% recession chance estimated by the governor’s office. Translation: families are already doing the budget discipline the Legislature keeps avoiding.
My Bottom Line
Wouldn’t it be great if the Legislature showed actual restraint and kept cutting spending even when it did not absolutely have to?
Do not hold your breath. After all, these are Democrats. The instinct is not discipline. The instinct is to declare every program essential, every lobbyist heartbreaking, every spending line compassionate, and every taxpayer refund a threat to civilization.
Taxpayers are tired of being told the state is both broke and expanding, compassionate and inefficient, surprised and somehow never responsible. Adults understand budgets have limits. The frustration is watching the Capitol class act shocked when permanent spending commitments, program growth, and political branding exercises collide with reality. Again.
Colorado does not have a messaging problem. It has a discipline problem. A budget should be a tool for priorities, not a piñata for every lobbyist with a laminated badge and a sad PowerPoint.
Better revenue does not erase bad math. If cuts are still needed, lawmakers should explain what they protected, what they inflated, what they promised without a durable funding source, and why regular Coloradans are always expected to be the emergency backup plan. The state should fund core functions first, stop feeding pet projects, rebuild reserves, and quit pretending restraint is some exotic concept smuggled in from another planet.
Source: Colorado Sun
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