Governor Proposes Budget Cuts
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter recommended Friday that lawmakers cut $632 million from the current state budget, with major reductions for higher education, public education and health care. He also warned that more cuts are coming.
Ritter said his top priorities are public safety and public health, and despite his proposed cuts, he said he wants to protect higher education as much as he can.
Todd Saliman, Ritter's budget director, told lawmakers the state faces a $632 million shortfall in this year's $18.6 billion operating budget - and that that figure could soar to more than $1 billion over the next two years.
"The governor's plan is to try to fairly distribute the pain across the entire state government," Saliman told the Joint Budget Committee, which will have to vote on final cuts in coming weeks before working on more cuts for next year's budget.
Forbes Magazine
5 comments:
I think the public wants to see some major salary cuts among the government dept heads and the adminstrative work force. As for public safety expenses cut them, there not protecting us anyway.
Education isnt where the people want cuts to be made.djw
Has the Governor given any thought to eliminating Mandatory Parole? After an inmate serves his/her full sentence, he/she is subject to years of Mandatory Parole which in essence keeps that person under DOC control long after he/she has served his/her sentence. What a waste of public funds and what an injustice to the person who served a full sentence.
In other words, if an inmate is sentenced to five years in prison, that person actually stays under the control of DOC for almost seven years on a five year sentence!!!
If I understand this correctly, there are around 8500 inmates elilgible for parole but being held at a cost of around $40,000 a year each. That would be around $340 million a year, which is around half the proposed budget cut. So why cut education at all??? Plain Jane
Absolutely unbelievable!!! If one would remove the blinders and take a good hard look at DOC and parole in Colorado I'm sure they could come up with more than enough budget cuts without jeopardizing public safety or education.
Parole is a joke in Colorado... offenders are warehoused as long as legally possible before they are released to start a second sentence known as Mandatory Parole. Parole should be a reward for good behavior on the inside... a second chance not a second sentence and a set-up for failure!
For those who share our beliefs and want to see changes to the corrupt system as it currently exists, please stop by and sign our petition to stop Mandatory Parole... http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/end-mandatory-parole-in-colorado-now
How rich this country would be if we weren't supporting retired congressmen and ex-presidents! Trying to support a handicapped program and seeing these clients medical care being cut is absolutely devastating!
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