Fiscal policy
The Denver Post: Colorado to end fiscal year with $325 million more than budgeted
The state of Colorado will end the 2010-11 budget year more than $300 million in the black, triggering the release of nearly $70 million to help offset cuts to public schools.
Also: Associated Press via Colorado Springs Gazette: State's fiscal picture brightens
Also: The Durango Herald: State's jobs recovery 'solid, slow' The Denver Post: Gov. John Hickenlooper seeks to overturn casino tax break
Gov. John Hickenlooper is exploring ways to overturn a tax break awarded to casinos that could slash millions of dollars in annual funding for community colleges, historic-preservation groups and other organizations.
Also: Denver Business Journal: Casino commission defends tax break, assesses smoking ban's impact
The Denver Post: State has millions to share with 9 of Colorado's worst performing schools
The Colorado Department of Education is now looking to partner with nine of the state's lowest performing schools to implement new interventions that will get students on track when they begin to fall behind. The partnership will also provide the schools with a portion of a new $7.5 million grant.
Denver Post editorial: AARP finally warming to Social Security reform
Former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming has crossed swords with AARP, the powerful senior lobby, for many years over reforming entitlement programs. So when he says AARP's sudden willingness to consider benefit cuts in addition to tax hikes to fix Social Security is a big deal, you can be sure it is.
Associated Press via Colorado Springs Business Journal: El Paso county commissioners consider parks tax The group Great Parks-Great Communities wants voters to decide on if they want to pay a cent and a half on a $10 purchase to support city parks. If approved, more than $9 million in annual revenue would be divided up among municipalities. A citizen board would be appointed to oversee how it is spent and ensure the money goes to maintenance.
Glenwood Springs Post-Independent: Colorado Mountain College approves scaled-back budget
The budget is $10 million less than the current fiscal year, the result of a projected substantial decrease in two of the college's three main sources of revenue, local property taxes and funding from the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Aurora Sentinel: Aurora Public Schools set to finalize budget cuts for 2011-12
APS officials are planning to address a funding gap of about $25 million with measures such as furlough days and reductions in non-school and non-labor budgets.
Also: Loveland Reporter-Herald: Exploratory committee will meet to consider mill levy for Nov. ballot
Jobs and economic security
Boulder Daily Camera: Boulder's sales tax up 6.38% through April
The year-to-date gains are besting city officials' projections of a 3.5 percent gain in sales tax revenue and a 4.4 percent increase in sales and use tax collections, said Bob Eichem, Boulder's finance director. "It's the same old words: 'cautiously optimistic,'" Eichem said. "There's a little loosening up."
Denver Business Journal: Metro Denver's employment back to pre-recession level in Q4 2012, forecast says
The Denver area lost 72,300 jobs since the second quarter of 2008, when the report indicates employment peaked. Employment peaked at various times across Colorado, from the third quarter of 2007 in Colorado Springs to the fourth quarter of 2008 in Pueblo, according to the report, and returning to those pre-recession job counts will be take longer for some communities, the report said.
Denver Business Journal: HUD to lend $41.3M in Colorado to help ward off foreclosures
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and NeighborWorks America have launched the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure in Colorado and elsewhere.
Health care
The Denver Post: Psychiatrist will head national doctor's group
Denver psychiatrist Jeremy Lazarus was named president-elect of the American Medical Association. Lazarus will assume the presidency in June 2012. |
