DENVER – Rep. J. Paul Brown, a Republican from Ignacio, said Tuesday he would like the state to keep surplus revenue to fix highways and roads, rather than refund the money to taxpayers.
The incoming lawmaker – who won his seat back from Democrat Mike McLachlan of Durango in the November election – acknowledged that his comments put him at odds with many in his Republican Party, which adamantly believes that surplus dollars should be refunded to voters.
“Who knows better than the Legislature about what’s needed?” Brown asked during an interview with The Durango Herald at the Capitol. “You go out there and talk to Joe Blow, or Susie Q, have we educated them?”
When the Colorado Legislature convenes Wednesday, lawmakers may have to grapple with a provision of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights that requires the state to issue refunds to taxpayers during times of budget surpluses. Payments could be due as early as this spring.
Legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle said they do not believe the Legislature should ask voters to let the state keep the additional dollars, which would be the only constitutional way to retain the money.
Instead, they feel the effort should start with the voters themselves, rather than have the Legislature refer an initiative to them. It would take a two-thirds majority for the Legislature to refer a ballot question.
State economists still are uncertain about how much would be refunded, but the estimated 2016 figure totaled about $137 million, or a $16 sales-tax credit for each taxpayer.
But Brown points to crumbling highways and roads, with figures in the tens of billions of dollars to complete an infrastructure wish list outlined by the Colorado Department of Transportation. Even before that, there are immediate concerns in the tens of millions of dollars for Southwest Colorado alone.
Brown said the Legislature simply could refer a measure to voters asking them to apply the surplus revenue to transportation needs.
“I’ll probably be in trouble, but I think that we need to take that lead,” Brown said.
“We’re just going to have to do something, and I feel like we need to lead because we know what the status is,” he said.
But Rep. Don Coram, a fellow Republican from Montrose, is not sure any surplus retention question should originate in the Legislature.
“(TABOR) is one of those things that was put together by the voters, and the voters are going to decide if they want to keep it, and I think that’s the way it should be,” Coram said. “It should be a grass-roots effort.”
Coram, a veteran of the Legislature in his third term, worries about overspending during rosier budget times. He remains frustrated the state spent to expand Medicaid.
“We keep putting these entitlement programs out there rather than putting people to work,” Coram said. “Unfortunately, when we do hit these good times, we do a lot of spending that may not be necessary.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com