Colorado budget bill eliminates TABOR refunds, slashes spending
Facing a money crunch, Colorado lawmakers resorted to extraordinary feats to craft a $27 billion budget bill Thursday, eliminating a $59 million taxpayer refund, slashing $73 million of payments to hospitals and cutting $50 million for road construction.
Even then, budget writers needed to pull millions from other cash accounts and tap reserves to balance the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
But the moves prevented even deeper spending cuts to classrooms, college campuses and health care providers that Gov. John Hickenlooper proposed in his budget plan.
A snowplow plows Voyager Pkwy. in blizzard conditions in northern Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Wednesday, January 23, 2016. (photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette)
