DENVER – The Colorado state budget is moving closer to finalization, but lawmakers have continued grappling over $1.2 billion in proposed cuts – with trims to a community health reimbursement program and to transportation funding among those drawing attention.
Proposed funding cuts for community health workers led to amendments and pleas from lawmakers looking to boost a workforce that one senator called a “lynchpin” for his rural district. Meanwhile, the proposed delay of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding has outside organizations worried about road conditions in coming years.
In both cases, critics warned that the proposed cuts and delays would cause more harm than savings. But the fiscal math doesn’t lie, budget writers counter – no matter how painful it makes the decisions…