Colorado lawmakers earmark $30M more for roads

Colorado lawmakers have recommended adding $30 million for transportation to next year’s state budget — a figure that falls short of what road advocates and a Republican leader had sought.

But the Joint Budget Committee, which is finishing its work on the 2019-20 budget this week, has faced competing priorities in deciding how to divide up excess revenue forecasted by economists. In a separate vote Tuesday, the JBC approved a $185 million recommendation for the first year of Gov. Jared Polis’ full-day kindergarten initiative, falling short of his $227 million request.

The additional transportation money would come on top of $200 million for road maintenance and improvements that already was promised for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

“It’s what we could afford,” Sen. Dominick Moreno, the Democratic JBC chair, told The Denver Post.

The committee’s four Democrats and two Republicans approved the $30 million addition unanimously. Still, Sen. Chris Holbert, the Republican minority leader — who had pushed for $136 million more for roads — expressed disappointment Wednesday: “Clearly, roads and bridges are not a priority for (Democrats), even with $1.18 billion more in hand” due to the forecasts.

Sandra Hagen Solin, a spokeswoman for the Fix Colorado Roads coalition of business groups, called the amount insufficient relative to the state’s transportation backlog: “$30 million … is a very disappointing amount in light of the magnitude of the $9 billion need.”