DENVER • “We agreed on a bunch of things,” said state Sen. Rollie Heath. But for the Long-Term Fiscal Stability Commission, the devil’s not only in the details, but in the general principles.

Heath, a Boulder Democrat, is chairman of the commission, which is charged with recommending ways to end the state’s deepening budget mess.

After hours of briefings on all aspects of Colorado’s government, the commission this week began trying to figure out what its priorities are. Fault lines emerged immediately as members, a mix of legislators and private citizens, espoused competing philosophies of government and began staking out positions in a debate that’s been going on since Plato and Aristotle.

They couldn’t agree on what many of the state’s “core functions” should be.

No problem agreeing that the state should protect public safety through police, courts and prisons. Ditto for a system of roads and bridges and for public education.

But should public education include preschool and the state universities? Should the state promote economic development? Provide health care? Enforce seat belt laws? No consensus.

They also disagreed about what kind of government should deliver these “core functions.” Rennie Fagan, a former Democratic state representative from Colorado Springs, argued against “decisions and allocations made by formulas” — an allusion to the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a formula to limit state spending, and Amendment 23, a formula for increasing state spending on K-12 education.

Sean Conway, a Weld County commissioner, said the formulas undermined representative democracy.But Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, argued that formulas guarded against spending driven by the pleadings of “the loudest voices.”

And Conway said, “It’s foolhardy to think you’re going to get the voters of Colorado to rescind TABOR.”

Colorado, one of the lowest-tax states, is struggling to deliver what many consider to be basic services. But the problem’s deeper than the current recession. The state’s spending rises at a faster rate than the overall economy’s in good times, and plunges farther in recessions.

Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, got no argument when he said the budget process is a real problem, not a red herring as some critics insist.

Another item garnering widespread support was the concept of a rainy-day fund — money stashed away when the economy’s good and state revenues are high, for times like now, when they aren’t. The idea has been bouncing around Colorado for years, but the party in power has never managed to get around to actually creating a fund.

Several private-sector members said the state should work more like a business, with long-term planning and spending measured by the results it produces. But Morse warned that government and private business have different goals. “How do you do cost-benefit analysis on a library?” he asked.—Contact the writer at 476-1654

Lt. Gen. Michael C. Gould, now the superintendent of the Air Force Academy, earned football letters there in 1973 and 1975. Photo by Photo courtesy of AFA