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Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee has been working to cut $1 billion from the budget, but little did they know that legislative leadership has had access to a $22 million fund all along.
For 12 years, unspent money from the general fund has been rolled into a separate fund. This fund is controlled by the six members of the legislative leadership: the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate, and the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. The members currently holding these roles are Rep. McCluskie (Democrat, District 13), Sen. Coleman (Democrat, District 23), Rep. Duran (Democrat, District 23), Sen. Rodriguez (Democrat, District 32), Rep. Pugliese (Republican, District 14), and Sen. Lundeen (Republican, District 9).
Senator Barb Kirkmeyer, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, uncovered this seemingly secretive fund while recently filling in for Senate Minority Leader Lundeen on a different committee.
Leadership unanimously voted to allocate $10 million from this fund to renovate offices so that all lawmakers can have offices in the Capitol building, while staff are moved to a single building across the street. Currently, lawmakers are spread out between the Capitol and two other buildings while staff members have offices within the State Capitol. It is unclear why the lawmakers cannot simply inhabit the offices already in existence and currently occupied by staff members. Of the $10 million, $6 million has been allocated towards the renovation of the offices while the remaining $4 million will be used to purchase new furniture.
Kirkmeyer is agast as such expenditures in the face of a budget crisis.
“We’re spending $4 million on new furniture? That we don’t need. At the same time, we’re in committee here at the Joint Budget Committee talking about the governor’s budget request to reduce $3 million to neglected and abused children in our child welfare services. That is beyond me that anyone thinks that this is ok," according to CBS News.
Leadership now plans to return $4 million to the general fund with House Speaker Julie McCluskie adding that projected renovation costs are not final and that they wish to be as cost-effective as they can be. However, Kirkmeyer argues that the entire $22 million should be returned.
"We should expect from state government budgeting the same thing that hardworking taxpayer families in this state expect when they're doing their own budget. If they don't have the money for health care, they don't go on vacation. If they don't have the money to take their children to the dentist, they don't say, 'God, let's go buy a new dining room table.' I mean, they don't do that. Why do they think it's OK to do that here?"
With revelations such as these, this writer wonders what other hidden funds may exist, just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps Colorado needs its own Department of Government Efficiency.
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Given to their own devices they are all crooks until you shine a light on them, then like cockroaches they scurry away claimming innocence.