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Warm welcome for Ritter's first budget

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 8, 2007 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Ritter's first proposed budget was received warmly by the legislature's Joint Budget Committee this morning, signaling it has a good chance of being adopted mostly intact.

"There's nothing glaring that I see at this point in time," Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park said afterward. "This is a dynamic process, and the landscape changes daily, but I don't see anything I object to."

While presenting his proposed budget this morning, Ritter told the committee that his "moral document" would boost funding for higher education and children's health care while investing in programs that would drive down recidivism.

"There are legends around the JBC and the governor's office," said JBC chairman and Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher, of Grand Junction. "Long ago, it's said that the chair of the JBC took the governor's budget and dropped it in the trash can."

"Thank you for not doing that," Ritter said.

"I think at the end of the day, we will have a budget that is a moral document, represents our values and does good things for the state," Buescher said.

Democrats and Republicans on the committee suggested possible minor revisions, including finding more money to reduce the waiting list for the developmentally disabled and funding prison construction.

Ritter said despite proposing to grow the budget $900 million next year — from $17.1 billion to $18 billion — ultimately it comes down to making hard choices about how to divide a limited amount of money.

The state's most pressing needs, including solving the health care crisis, funding transportation projects and further helping to stabilize the cost of and improving higher eduction, will probably need a voter-approved tax hike to fund, Ritter said.

But he added that if any of those priorities wind up on the ballot, it should be just one of them.

"That is certainly one of the most important conversations we'll have in the Capitol complex in the coming months," Ritter said. "I don't think we can go for all three. That would be unfair to voters and would demonstrate a lack of leadership on my part."