DENVER – Promising shorter lines at the driver’s license office and less dramatic increases in college tuition, Gov. John Hickenlooper unveiled his proposal for next year’s state budget Friday.
Because of a growing economy, the state can afford to pay for this year’s wildfires and floods, expand its savings account and increase its support to colleges by 15 percent.
Seeking to head off election-year politicking over the budget, Hickenlooper asked lawmakers for their support for his plan.
“Colorado is still recovering from the most destructive flooding in the state’s history,” the governor said in a news release. “This budget frames what by necessity will have to be a collaborative effort that crosses party lines. We expect compromise from both sides that is based on common sense, which has no party affiliation.”
Hickenlooper is aiming to cut wait times at the driver’s license office – a punch line to innumerable jokes about government bureaucracy – to 15 minutes, down from a current average of an hour.
Colleges would see their largest increases in more than a decade – $100 million, including $40 million for financial aid. Hickenlooper has a “handshake agreement” with college boards of trustees to not increase tuition more than 6 percent. Students have endured several years of 9 percent increases at many state colleges.
Hickenlooper’s budget does not take into account two tax measures on Tuesday’s election ballot. Amendment 66 seeks an extra $1 billion from an income tax increase for schools, and Proposition AA would put additional taxes on retail marijuana sales, to pay for pot inspectors and health programs.
If Amendment 66 fails, school districts would see an average increase of $223 per student from Hickenlooper’s budget. If it passes, some districts would be in line for a much greater increase.
The state economy has been turning around for two years now, but Hickenlooper and his budget director, Henry Sobanet, have pursued cautious budgets that built up savings accounts. The school savings account is projected to reach $1 billion by next June, but Sobanet has cautioned that much of the money is a one-time windfall from taxes on investors.
Still, the budget they proposed Friday was the most generous in years.
“2013 is a hallmark year in many ways, because we will exceed the peak employment that existed before the Great Recession in 2008,” Sobanet said. “We’ve done a lot of hard work to make sure we didn’t spend all the money we had for the last two years. This budget continues that policy.”
It calls for a rainy-day fund equal to 6.5 percent of the state’s general fund – triple the size of the fund before Hickenlooper took office.
Overall, the 2014-15 budget calls for an increase of 4.4 percent to $24 billion in spending, including $9 billion in the general fund that is decided by the Legislature.
The Legislature is expected to amend and pass Hickenlooper’s budget next spring.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
