{"id":49806,"date":"2020-12-19T00:23:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T07:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-fiscal-future-looks-brighter-but-the-recovery-is-uneven\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:48:35","slug":"colorados-fiscal-future-looks-brighter-but-the-recovery-is-uneven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-fiscal-future-looks-brighter-but-the-recovery-is-uneven\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s fiscal future looks brighter, but the recovery is uneven"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Associated
Associated Press file<br><br>An unexpectedly quick economic recovery means lawmakers potentially have a surplus as high as $3.8 billion for the coming fiscal year, according to new legislative projections. \u201cThis is surprisingly good and welcome economic news for Colorado, given that the entire world is in the grip of a deadly virus and the United States is experiencing an all-time high in hospitalizations and deaths,\u201d Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine, an increase in job creation and a higher online sales are boosting the state\u2019s economy, but it\u2019s not universal. The latest numbers show certain sectors in Colorado, particularly the restaurant industry and tourism, and low-wage workers are getting left behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this upward trajectory for many industries and households and a downward or flat trajectory for others,\u201d said Kate Watkins, the chief legislative economist at the Joint Budget Committee hearing. \u201cHigher income individuals have recovered very quickly whereas lower income individuals have not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bifurcated recovery creates challenges for Colorado lawmakers. The improving economic outlook is driving projected revenues higher and easing state budget pressures.<\/p>\n

In a reversal from earlier forecasts, Colorado\u2019s budget is now expected to take a dive for only one year before rebounding to pre-pandemic levels in fiscal year 2021-22, which starts July 1. The unexpectedly quick recovery means lawmakers potentially have a surplus as high as $3.8 billion for the coming fiscal year, according to new legislative projections.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s forecast shows $500 million more in available revenue than he included in his budget proposal in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is surprisingly good and welcome economic news for Colorado, given that the entire world is in the grip of a deadly virus and the United States is experiencing an all-time high in hospitalizations and deaths,\u201d Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The question moving forward is how to allocate the one-time extra money. The Democratic governor is pushing his plan for a $1.3 billion stimulus that includes future spending on infrastructure projects and the stimulus checks sent earlier this month to more than 400,000 people on unemployment. He also wants to restore most spending cuts and put more money into reserves.<\/p>\n

Colorado lawmakers approved the initial items on the governor\u2019s list during a special session earlier this month and remain open to the broader approach. But at the same time, they are concerned about the economic picture down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is room for some stimulus spending considerations,\u201d said state Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Democrat and the chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. \u201cThe General Assembly will have to be cautious about not spending too much given the instability we\u2019re still seeing in the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The declines for the current year are projected between 5.6% and 3%, according to the respective December economic forecasts from the Legislature and the Polis administration.<\/p>\n

Colorado lawmakers prepared for the slide earlier this year by making major budget cuts and decreasing the state reserve fund to its lowest point in a decade.<\/p>\n

But they went deeper than needed, and now the state expects $1.8 billion in additional revenue from the fiscal year that ended June 30 and a similar amount for the current fiscal year. The one-time money can be spent or saved.<\/p>\n

The $3.8 billion in extra revenue available for the 2021-22 budget that lawmakers are writing now doesn\u2019t include increases in demand for government support or inflationary pressures on the cost of goods and services. So in reality, lawmakers still will need to make difficult decisions about where the money goes.<\/p>\n

The uneven impacts of the economic recovery are further complicating Colorado\u2019s path forward.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Kim Ransom, a Republican budget writer from Douglas County, expressed concern about what many people are experiencing on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love seeing the recovery that you are forecasting,\u201d she told the governor\u2019s budget director. \u201cBut when you drive around, sometimes the closed doors anecdotally seem to contradict what we are seeing on these papers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Chris Hansen, a Democratic budget committee member from Denver, suggested lawmakers will need to take more action to address the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think household finances are strong for some but very much in peril for many others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI highlight this because \u2026 this committee \u2013 and therefore the General Assembly \u2013 is going to really have to grasp this nettle because we\u2019ve got this divergence that seems more pronounced than in other downturns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press file<br><br>An unexpectedly quick economic recovery means lawmakers potentially have a surplus as high as $3.8 billion for the coming fiscal year, according to new legislative projections. \u201cThis is surprisingly good and welcome economic news for Colorado, given that the entire world is in the grip of a deadly virus and the United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87644,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49806\/revisions\/87644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49806"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}