Governor Polis releases 2023-24 proposed budget, Ganahl reacts

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- At a press conference Tuesday, Governor Jared Polis unveiled his Fiscal Year 2023-24 proposed budget, should he remain in office. In it, is a request for $42.7 billion in Total Funds, and $16.7 billion in the General Fund.

After receiving incredible amounts of COVID federal funds to utilize in the budget over the last year or two, now Colorado is facing a budget that has very wiggle little room for new programs and is also being introduced during the highest inflation rate in decades.

It’s a budget amounting to tens of billions of dollars, but still, one Gov. Polis claims will actually save Coloradans money by investing wisely.

"Saving families money and investing in our future,” said Gov. Polis.

One of the biggest investments is schools. $704 million is being allocated to K-12 public schools.

"This is the biggest driver of the budget," said Gov. Polis. "As you know, K-12 is the single biggest, the most important investment that we make. I'm proud to present to you a budget with record investment in serving our learners. We have an increase of $861 per student. That's the highest increase ever per student. And that is really important in reducing class size, compensating for learning loss, better compensation for teachers, better funding, enrichment, and academic programs have proven results."

Public safety, also getting a big boost with $42.1 million of the budget.

A large chunk of that, over $12 million, will be allocated to car thefts.

"That means better tools and resources to reduce auto theft, including support for prosecutors to hold criminals accountable," said Gov. Polis.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau ranks Colorado as the worst state in the country for auto thefts, with car thefts increasing by 37 percent in 2020 over 2019.

Gov. Polis says there was not a great need for money to go towards auto thieves when building previous budgets.

"We would be supporting ten prosecutors that focus on auto theft across judicial districts in our state, in jurisdictions with high auto theft rates, combat it," said Gov. Polis. "This is not something [prosecutors] requested two or three years ago."

The $16.7 billion proposed for the General Fund is 7 percent higher than the previous fiscal year. But Gov. Polis emphasizes, that's still lower than the national inflation rate, which sits at 8.3 percent.

"We have a spending problem here in Colorado, not a revenue problem," said Heidi Ganahl, Republican candidate for governor. "The state budget has doubled in the past decade, adding a couple billion just under your watch in the last couple of years.”

Ganahl made those comments in September at a gubernatorial debate against Polis in Pueblo.

With Tuesday's announcement of the budget, Ganahl is doubling down on her criticism of the governor's spending, sending the following statement to KRDO:

"This budget should frighten all Colorado families who are struggling to make ends meet in the face of an impending recession. At the same time that Jared Polis acknowledged the very real economic uncertainty that our state faces, he proposed a budget that is 7% larger than last year. You never hear Polis talk about cutting spending. When will enough be enough? Did Coloradans struggling to make ends meet see a 7% increase in their budgets? More government spending makes me even more curious about what is not being spent wisely in the first place.

This budget is just another election year campaign stunt. Yet another mention of prioritizing TABOR, which he tried to kill. Yet another attempt to buy votes by floating the idea of continuing temporary relief of his own fees. Yet another attempt to fix the very problems he created, like crime. Polis created Colorado’s crime wave with policies that coddle criminals, and now he’s proposing a lame financial fix that won’t come close to fixing our problem.

When I win the election, I look forward to an outside audit of our state's spending and submitting my amendments to this budget that will actually cut spending and hold our government accountable for how it spends our tax dollars."

Heidi Ganahl, Republican candidate for governor

If you’re questioning the timing of Tuesday's budget announcement, with elections next week; every governor in the country has a statutory obligation to produce a budget no later than November 1.

Gov. Polis also unveiled his 2021 budget on November 1.

An official budget letter will be submitted on January 1 by whoever is elected governor next week.