Colorado faces another $700 million to $800 million in budget cuts that will likely force Medicaid reductions affecting rural hospitals like Middle Park Health, while wolf depredation costs have tripled original estimates, Speaker Julie McCluskie and Senator Dylan Roberts told Grand County commissioners January 6.
State Budget Crisis
Colorado faces $700 million to $800 million in cuts this session after House Resolution 1 cost the state $1.2 billion last year. Colorado was one of four states that felt immediate impacts because the state uses federal taxable income rather than adjusted gross income in calculating state taxes with rolling conformity.
McCluskie said the state will likely have to adjust Medicaid benefits. “It is our reality that we will have to make adjustments,” she said, expressing worry for how counties will cope with additional administrative burdens.
The August special session decoupled some business and corporate tax programs, protecting roughly $300 million. The state dug into reserves for another $300 million and made $300 million to $400 million in cuts. Priorities include maintaining the senior homestead property tax exemption, funding rural schools, and protecting Medicaid as much as possible.
Roberts said Grand County and the Western Slope have higher individual marketplace participation and higher uninsured rates than the rest of the state. More people becoming uninsured raises everyone’s insurance prices and threatens rural hospital viability.
The August special session passed one-year legislation to shore up the individual marketplace after federal tax credits expired. Roberts expects “robust conversation this year about can we find a longer-term solution here in Colorado.”
Wolf Costs Triple Projections
Depredation claims topped $1 million last year, Roberts announced. When he and McCluskie sponsored legislation to create a permanent compensation fund, CPW said $350,000 was by far the upper limit needed annually. The state has now blown past that multiple times.
“Schools, roads, health care, everything else, we have to pass a balanced budget and this money has to come from somewhere,” Roberts said. Legislators on both sides of the aisle have significant concerns about runaway program costs. Roberts said budget, not policy legislation, will dominate wolf conversations this session.
Wolf 2403 was recently relocated to Grand County after being identified as a known depredator. Roberts said CPW claimed they followed the wolf management plan, but the plan requires local community involvement. “The county was notified the relocation was happening, but the decision had already been made.”
The wolf is no longer believed to be in Grand County. A commissioner said receiving the relocation call was one of the few times they lost their temper.
The state does not seem likely to secure new wolves for winter introduction. Federal Fish and Wildlife letters suggest federal takeover if the state doesn’t make changes, which Roberts said would be negative for ranchers and communities. The Senate must confirm at least three new CPW commissioners. Roberts said those confirmations “will be interesting.”
Road Safety Legislation
Roberts is working with Sheriff Brett Schroetlin and Chief Wingate on super speeder and illegal passing legislation. The bill will increase illegal passing penalties from four points to at least eight points, currently a $150 fine usually pled down to two points.
The legislation directs CDOT to construct more passing lanes and post advance signage. It creates escalating penalties for multiple speeding offenses within two, three, or five-year periods. Second and subsequent offenses require mandatory court appearance rather than mailing in a fine.
Any fines trigger TABOR issues, Roberts said. Increasing fines would create a fiscal note “which would likely make it impossible to pass, given our current budget situation.” Points violations don’t implicate TABOR.
A commissioner suggested vehicle impoundment as a non-revenue consequence. Roberts said they could consider alternatives within the bill.
Roberts has sponsored bond reform legislation two years running to impose stricter bond requirements for repeat offenders. The bill failed to advance through House Judiciary Committee both years.
Property Cleanup Legislation
County Attorney Shira presented legislation addressing conflicting statutes that prevent effective property cleanup and zoning enforcement. At least 50 of 64 counties support the effort, which was a unanimous CCI priority.
Commissioner Linke emphasized what the legislation is NOT: “It’s not us county commissioners appointing somebody to go around and assess fines on any junk violations and whip a bunch of fines on people.”
The legislation addresses four problems:
Split Court Jurisdiction – Relief options are split between district and county court. Injunctions are available in district court, which can’t impose fines. County court can impose fines but can’t issue injunctions. The legislation consolidates everything in one court.
Cleanup Timeline – Counties currently have only 10 days after court authorization to complete cleanups, forcing weather-dependent timing while violations continue. The legislation extends the timeline to 30 days.
Scattered Statutes – The legislation consolidates zoning, building violations, and blight laws scattered across multiple statutes.
Procedural Conflicts – Civil infractions require peace officers to prosecute while statutes require county attorneys to prosecute, leaving county attorneys no role. The legislation fixes this across multiple areas.
Linke noted Grand County is working with Boulder County: “When you have Boulder and Grand working on something, I think you can call it bipartisan.” Morgan County, CCI consultants Joe McCloskey and Mark Waller, and CCI Legislative Director Katie First also offered assistance.
Linke requested Speaker McCluskie carry the bill forward.
Human Services Restructuring Concerns
Human Services Director Deb opposed the Colorado Department of Human Services’ proposal to restructure service delivery through regional districting.
“If you have an issue with your knee, and it hurts a little bit, you don’t go to the orthopedic surgeon who then immediately says you need a knee replacement,” Deb said. “You do other things to see if that addresses the problem first before going full out to the most invasive thing that you can possibly do.”
Deb said Colorado doesn’t need districting based on current information. “I think there are other shared services, other types of interactions and things that we could be doing” to address payment error rates without restructuring. Districting “will actually be detrimental to us in the short term, if not the long term, because in a sense, it’s like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
Major concerns include technology that doesn’t exist in Colorado, structural differences from Wisconsin’s model, missing information in proposals, and payment error rate risks that could cost the state hundreds of millions in HR1 penalties.
“If we’re looking at who is going to actually be hurt the most in this, I think it’s the clients, particularly the clients in small counties,” Deb said. If most eligibility work moves remotely, “our people in our office work with the folks. We try to provide the best customer service, and we would do it anyway, but we are running into those folks in the grocery store.”
If the hub is in Larimer County serving Kremmling residents, “the person in Larimer County doesn’t know [them]. They don’t run into, there’s just not the customer service that we like to see in a small county.”
A commissioner added that local knowledge prevents fraud and improves service. People applying for benefits “can’t drive to Larimer County to go fill that stuff out, so I think from a compassion and a security standpoint, it’s really not a good idea.”
County Manager Edward Moyer said legislation would be required. The Joint Budget Committee has “some pretty big questions about this, and it looked like it was kind of on a fast track and that has slowed down.”
Speaker McCluskie acknowledged hearing similar concerns from other counties.
Other Legislative Priorities
Roberts outlined additional bills: housing authority legislation clarifying counties’ authority to use funds for housing projects, and a Sisu Farms tax credit bill for small agricultural producers that originated from a commissioner’s suggestion two years ago.
Roberts will continue as chair of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, where he expects robust discussions about water policy and wolves.
A commissioner raised unfunded mandates, noting 50 of 64 counties support the effort. One county resolved that unfunded state mandates become optional. CCI is backing the effort.
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