By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun
Colorado’s state budget deficit next year is forecast to be about $250 million smaller than previously anticipated, economic prognosticators told state lawmakers Thursday, news that will make carrying out a fiscal trapeze act slightly easier.
Nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff and the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which presented their quarterly budget and economic forecasts Thursday to the Joint Budget Committee, said the state budget hole is more like $750 million, if not lower. That’s down from the roughly $1 billion hole originally estimated for the fiscal year that begins July 1 if the JBC maintained its current spending plans.
The deficit is being caused by a number of factors, including decreasing inflation leaving less for spending growth under Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which caps the annual amount the government can spend. Also weighing on the budget are repeated tax cuts, a cooling job market and growing spending on education and health care, namely Medicaid.