State Representative Claire Levy, House District 13

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Some thoughts on budget cuts from Rep. Mark Ferrandino:

While the latest quarterly economic forecast has shown that the economy has started a slow recovery, the legislature still needs to make decisions about how to ensure the FY 10-11 budget is balanced given the $1 billion shortfall. These decisions have been difficult, but like families across Colorado we have made the necessary cuts to ensure we balanced our budget. As a member of the Joint Budget Committee, I have been working since November to prepare the budget for debate this past week. The following is a summary of some of the major decisions to balance the budget:

$260 million reduction to K-12 Education - Our state spends 43% of our General Fund in support of K-12 education. We have worked to protect this important funding during the recession, but given the magnitude and duration of the recession, we had to make the difficult decision to reduce the K-12 funding by 6%. A similar dollar cut would mean a cut of almost 50% to Higher Education, or Human Services, or Corrections. As a son of two educators, and someone who benefited greatly from public education, this has been the most difficult vote I have made in my 3 years in the legislature.
$140 million from Tax Exemptions and Credits - The legislature has eliminated or suspended several tax exemptions and credits that will result in increased revenue of roughly $140 million. We took a very targeted approach and selected only a few of the over $2 billion in exemptions and credits offered by our state. This revenue will help prevent further cuts to our K-12 budget. For example, it will help us save the roughly $100 million we spend on Pre-School and Kindergarten.
$93 million from the Senior Property Tax Exemption - The legislature will continue the suspension for at least one more year of the property tax exemptions seniors receive. However, we will continue funding for programs that help needy seniors, such as the Area Agency's of Aging, which helps people with programs such as Meals on Wheels.
$62 million cut from Higher Education - Currently, our state funds higher education at 49th out of the 50 states, and this will mean roughly a 9% reduction in funding. Higher Education always takes a significant portion of the reductions because it is one of the only large areas in the budget that does not have constitutional, or federal law protections.
$37 million reduction in State Payroll - The legislature has reduced the take home pay of all state employees by 2.5% by reducing the state contribution to their retirement. This will result in a reduction of each state employee's, including legislators, take home pay.
$20 million savings in Corrections - Thanks to the leadership of Governor Ritter, and the legislature, we have seen a reduction in our prison population for the first time in anyone's memory. This has happened through investments in recidivism programs and getting smarter with how we deal with offenders, without reducing public safety.
$20 million cut to provider rates - The state will save funds by reducing the rate we pay providers of Medicaid and Human Services by an additional 1%. This reduction will result in a 5.5% provider cut to most providers over the two year budget cycle.

These have been difficult decisions, but are necessary to deal with the over $1 billion shortfall our state faces next year. We will continue to balance the budget, while keeping our eyes on helping to create jobs, and building a strong economy for both the short and long term.

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