Thirty-eight-point-one billion dollars seems like a lot. And it is. It’s an astronomical amount that comprises this year’s budget for the State of Colorado. It’s also what has been consuming us this past week and the subject of long debate over the priorities for the people of our fine state.
I was interviewed on Fox 31 (https://kdvr.com/news/local/colorado-budget-2022-education-pollution-health/) and reminded them not to forget the “point one” since that amounts to $100 million dollars. When we talk about such big numbers, it’s easy to think that these dollars just come from the Feds or from industry or “fees,” when in reality it comes from all of us. The burden that we are facing, with trillions of federal dollars being doled out to the states, should make us more cautious, not less. But that’s not been the story under the gold dome.
An example of the lack of concern is a nearly 7,000 percent increase in the Air Pollution Control Division, from a line item of $660,000 of General Fund dollars to $45 million. When I asked why such a dramatic increase, I was told that it was a three-year “pay forward” of the department expenses, still over a 2,000 percent annual rise, and no information forthcoming about why such a hike and for what it would be used. The covenant of trust we have to have, between a people and their government, is damaged by a lack of transparency and fails one of Reagan’s four tests: that government because it creates nothing and burdens its people with taxes, must be incredibly transparent and accountable.
Keeping the simple things in focus is so remarkably important. I voted against the budget this year because it’s not responsible, it’s not accountable and it’s reckless. We should demand better.
