State Senate completes work on budget bill

By Charles Ashby
Tuesday, April 12, 2011

DENVER — The Colorado Senate gave final approval to the state’s $18 billion budget Monday, sending it on to the House.

Though Democratic senators who hold a majority did make some minor changes to the bill, they lived up to a long-fought budget compromise with Republicans.

The budget for the 2011–12 fiscal year, which begins July 1, calls for restoring some sales tax exemptions, increasing the size of the state’s reserve account and allowing businesses to retain a portion of a vendor fee for collecting sales taxes.

In exchange, it reduces planned cuts to K–12 education by more than $80 million.

The bill, along with a package of others designed to balance the state’s budget, heads to the House, where the Republicans have a 33–32 vote majority.