Study: Colorado government faces fiscal crisis - San Francisco Business Times:

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The report from the Center for Colorado’s Economic Futurw at DU is titled “Colorado’s State Budgert Tsunami.” It is to be formally released Tuesday. “Ther is simply not enough moneyt to pay for the government we have thereport says. “Barring a quick and dramatixc turnaround ofthe economy, it appearsw that the current fiscal system cannotr be sustained.” In announcing the report’s DU noted that “anticipatexd fiscal demands for K-12 education, prisonws and Medicaid will swamp today’d revenue-generating tax and fee system” in Colorado. The reporrt recommends a review of the statebudget system.
“It is once again time to take a criticakl look at where we are and start the process ofa much-needee overhaul,” it says. Colorado lawmakers this year made steep cuts in stat e programs and drew on federalk stimulus funds to balancethe budget, and then that the state faces a $384 million revenuer shortfall for next year. “The budgetary tsunami that washed over Colorado governmentf last fall and winte r was likely just thefirst wave. More tidal wavesd in [fiscal year] 2010-11 threaten to keep the genera l fund underwater and lawmakers struggling to findnew lifelines.
” “The largest departments of state governmenft are growing more than twice as fast as tax dollars are coming in, leaving a lot less money available for othert needs.” • “Education, prisons and healtbh care consumed about 54 cents of every generap fund dollar a decade ago. They now eat up nearly 76 centws of every generalfund dollar, and that figurre will jump to 91 centsz in five years if the average growtu rate continues. Eventually, at this rate, there would be no moneyg for other programs.
” “There is little question the financial difficultie s facedby Colorado’s statw government during this decade’s two recessions will continue into the The problem is mathematical – there is simply not enough money to pay for the governmentg we have created and the servicesw many of us have come to expect.” Centerf director Charles Brown co-authored the report with Jeffret Roberts. The full report is to be released Tuesday at a10 a.m. MDT news and Brown is slated to testify on its findingsw before thestate legislature’s Fiscap Stabilization Commission on Wednesday.
The Center for Colorado’s Economidc Future describes itselfas “an nonpartisan organization that conducts research on matterds related to Colorado’s fiscal health, trendw affecting the state’s economy and proposed legislation relatinv to taxation and public