Colorado Spending Transparency

COST wants to thank Jefferson County for being “one of only a handful of Colorado government entities to post line-item expense account charges, contracts and the county’s checkbook. All the information is in a searchable database available to anyone with access to the Web,” according to Charley Able from the Lakewood Edge. 

Jeffco’s Transparency Initiative sets the standard for government transparency in Colorado.  Procurement cards can be searched by date, vendor, category, description, cardholder, authorizer, and amount. Want to know how much the Sheriff’s Office spends on hay for horses?  Look it up!  It’s available; as is the amount that Commissioner Faye Griffin spent on airfare to a national conference.  COST is not making a judgement about these expenditures.  We are just thrilled that they are available for all taxpayers to see.   It’s simply good government.

Able quotes County Administrator Jim Moore who echoes something that COST and transparency advocates have been saying for more than a year, transparency in government promotes efficiency: “ People are going to see things we don’t see, people who have a different perspective and people who are critical of how we do things. That’s going to lead to improvements and better cheaper, faster ways of doing things.”

It’s refreshing to see stewards of taxpayer dollars embracing transparency rather than being defensive about how they are spending our money.  The next time a local government tells COST that transparency is too expensive, we’ll point to Jeffco.

COST loves summer!  We don’t have to track bills at the state capitol or remind legislators about how they are voting for special interests over taxpayers.  Summer gives us time to do fun things like poke around Governor Bill Ritter’s status report on our “stimulus” dollars, a.k.a. your hard-earned tax dollars — more like your children and grandchildren’s hard-earned tax dollars, at work in Colorado.

The Governor maintains a working document (last updated June 19, 2009) titled “A Colorado Status Report” to provide Coloradans with a “snapshot of where Colorado stands” with respect to our $7 billion share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Examples of how some of our dollars are being spent include projects such as $1.2 million for Weld County school bus pollution retrofit, $7 million for University of Colorado research grants, and $42.7 million for energy efficiency and conservation block program grants.

The most beguiling figure is the number of ”people benefitting from tax credits or direct grants.” Below is the Governor’s accounting of that number.  COST took the chart directly from his report. 

People benefiting from tax credits or direct grants

Social Security one‐time $250 payment            500,000

Pell Grant Increase                                                 52,000

Food Stamp Increase                                             326,000

Increased Unemployment Benefits                      115,000

Youth in summer employment program              3,000

Making Work Pay tax credit                                 1,800,000 families

Total                                                 2,796,000 plus

First of all, nearly 2.8 million Coloradans seems high since according to US Census figures the state’s total population as of July 1, 2008 was 4,939,456 people. That means nearly 57 percent of Colorado’s total population is getting some sort of grant or tax credit courtesy of the stimulus.  

But wait…

Notice the word “families” next to the 1,800,000 Making Work Pay tax credit figure.  Since “families” generally consist of 2 or more members, then 1.8 million “families” would, at the very least, equal 3.6 million people.  (Assuming a family means 2 people and multiplying it by 1.8 million families)  Continuing with our math problem and using the Governor’s own math formula, if we add 3.6 million Coloradans to the other figures, the new total number of beneficiaries is 4,596,000 or more than 93 percent of Colorado’s total population.  That means 343,456 Coloradans get nothing.

But wait…

According to the US Census, the average family size in Colorado is 3.13 people.  Multiply that number by 1.8 million families, and we find that 5,634,000 people are getting stimulus dollars.  Add that figure to the Governor’s other numbers, and our new total is 6,630,000 Coloradans receiving stimulus dollars, which is nearly 35 percent greater than the actual population of the state.

COST will give the Governor the benefit of the doubt and use the lower figure of 4,596,000.  We feel sorry for the 343,456 Coloradans who don’t get anything, but somebody has to pay for it.

A reporter asked Colorado Transparency Project Director Amy Oliver Cooke, a member of the Colorado Long Term Economic Stability Commission, if real cuts in spending need to be made in Colorado’s budget where would she make them?  She answered,

I don’t know because I don’t have specifics on where the state spends its money.  That’s why we need transparency.  If we can see where every dime is spent, then all of us can make suggestions.  Right now if we had full transparency, we would have almost 5 million sets of eyes, stakeholders and taxpayers, engaged in the process — coming up with their ideas for efficiency and cost savings.  Vendors and suppliers could be providing goods and services in a more competitive process.

Amy does agree with Governor Ritter’s Budget Director that TABOR, while on time-out the last five years, has helped to cushion Colorado from some of the problems that other states such as California have.  Under TABOR, Colorado lawmakers could not spend like drunken sailors on shore leave.  As the Denver Post said:

Colorado is not California and is not in any danger of becoming California with its $24.8 billion budget gap, in part because of a different budget structure.

The fact that “we are obligated to balance the budget each year has actually protected Colorado,” Saliman said.

He never mentioned TABOR by name, but Saliman also credited “constitutional budget provisions that rein in spending.” The 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR amendment, controls taxation and spending.

With Colorado starting fiscal year 2009-2010 nearly $400 million in the red, this budget crisis is just another reason why this state desperately needs complete transparency in all levels of government.

Technically the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights prevents lawmakers from raising taxes without a vote of the people.  They can raise fees but fees are supposed to cover the cost of services provided only.  And the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny are real.

Natalie Menten and Face the State cooperated to show us just how much the General Assembly raised fees in the last legislative session. 

59 bills were introduced during the 2009 session that established or changed fees. Of the lot, only eight were killed, with the balance signed by the governor for a total of $562,969,430 in revenue for fiscal year 2009-2010.

Pick your favorite fee by checking out the 2009 Fee Increase Spreadsheet.  The new fees provide some 560 million reasons why Coloradans need complete transparency.