By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/16/2009 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/16/2009 12:36:05 AM MST
An oxymoron has been in wide use this year at the Capitol: "negative supplemental."
That's the term budget officials use when they make a midyear cut to a program. In a good year, there are mostly "supplementals," meaning upward, but usually small, adjustments to programs based on unexpected costs.
But in the current budget year, which ends in June, the state's revenue is expected to be more than $600 million below original projections. The "negative supplementals" have been plentiful and deep.
Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee last week finished their plan to balance the current year's budget. Their staff will make a presentation of the plan today to the full legislature in a rare joint session of the House and Senate.
Rep. Jack Pommer, a member of the JBC, said the joint session is meant to bring other lawmakers up to speed on what has happened to the current year's budget.
"This year we have an extraordinary number of bills and supplementals cutting a huge amount of money," Pommer, D-Boulder, said. "In some ways, it's like redoing the budget."
The Joint Budget Committee followed, or came close to, many of the recommendations Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, made last month to balance the budget in the current year.
For example, the six-member panel agreed that colleges and universities should be cut $30 million in appropriations from the state's general fund and Ritter's office should take a $2.6 million cut.
Meanwhile, the panel rejected the governor's supplemental request for $26 million in additional funding for schools.
The JBC's balancing plan rests on the assumption, also used by Ritter's office, that the state would get an estimated $107 million in federal stimulus package funding just to help offset the costs of Medicaid in the current year.
Pommer said that with changes to the stimulus package last week, the state could get an additional $100 million for Medicaid in the current year.
While the governor's office called for using $207 million in cash funds — pots of money financed from fees in exchange for goods and services — the JBC recommended using $230.9 million.
The panel approved a recommendation to limit the amount of sales tax revenue that businesses can keep as compensation for collecting the tax for the state. That change would save the state $12.8 million in the current year.
But the panel nixed a proposed $250,000 cut to veterans' programs.
The panel also reversed a recommendation that would have cut $2 million from a senior assistance program that funds services like Meals on Wheels.
"We got a surge of lobbying from senior citizens' groups," Pommer said.
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/16/2009 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/16/2009 12:36:05 AM MST
An oxymoron has been in wide use this year at the Capitol: "negative supplemental."
That's the term budget officials use when they make a midyear cut to a program. In a good year, there are mostly "supplementals," meaning upward, but usually small, adjustments to programs based on unexpected costs.
But in the current budget year, which ends in June, the state's revenue is expected to be more than $600 million below original projections. The "negative supplementals" have been plentiful and deep.
Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee last week finished their plan to balance the current year's budget. Their staff will make a presentation of the plan today to the full legislature in a rare joint session of the House and Senate.
Rep. Jack Pommer, a member of the JBC, said the joint session is meant to bring other lawmakers up to speed on what has happened to the current year's budget.
"This year we have an extraordinary number of bills and supplementals cutting a huge amount of money," Pommer, D-Boulder, said. "In some ways, it's like redoing the budget."
The Joint Budget Committee followed, or came close to, many of the recommendations Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, made last month to balance the budget in the current year.
For example, the six-member panel agreed that colleges and universities should be cut $30 million in appropriations from the state's general fund and Ritter's office should take a $2.6 million cut.
Meanwhile, the panel rejected the governor's supplemental request for $26 million in additional funding for schools.
The JBC's balancing plan rests on the assumption, also used by Ritter's office, that the state would get an estimated $107 million in federal stimulus package funding just to help offset the costs of Medicaid in the current year.
Pommer said that with changes to the stimulus package last week, the state could get an additional $100 million for Medicaid in the current year.
While the governor's office called for using $207 million in cash funds — pots of money financed from fees in exchange for goods and services — the JBC recommended using $230.9 million.
The panel approved a recommendation to limit the amount of sales tax revenue that businesses can keep as compensation for collecting the tax for the state. That change would save the state $12.8 million in the current year.
But the panel nixed a proposed $250,000 cut to veterans' programs.
The panel also reversed a recommendation that would have cut $2 million from a senior assistance program that funds services like Meals on Wheels.
"We got a surge of lobbying from senior citizens' groups," Pommer said.
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