DENVER Rural lawmakers are starting to make progress in their fight to keep the state from taking money from local construction projects.
But Gov. John Hickenlooper still wants to divert $64 million out of the funds that pay for dams and water pipelines, road work and other building projects.
Southwest Colorado lawmakers tried last spring to halt the diversions, which are approaching half a billion dollars since the recession began. Their efforts failed, but there are signs that state leaders are starting to pay attention.
Hickenloopers budget for next year, released Tuesday, gives rural lawmakers a few glimmers of hope. He proposes leaving $10 million in an account filled by taxes on gas and oil production so that the state can resume making grants to local governments affected by gas drilling.
The grants used to pay for things like a fire truck for Fort Lewis Mesa fire department, energy upgrades at the Cortez Recreation Center, asbestos removal at the school in Silverton and a fence at the Montezuma County Jail.
The state Department of Local Affairs stopped making grants in 2009 and instead shovelled the gas and oil severance tax money into the ailing general fund budget.
Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, and Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, sponsored bills this spring to halt the practice. Both died in a committee in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Roberts called the $10 million that Hickenlooper has left for local grants a step in the right direction, although only a baby step at this point.
Still, Id like to commend him for recognizing that those funds are by current law supposed to go to local communities and are important for putting people to work in the areas of the state where unemployment is very high, Roberts said in an email interview.
Hickenlooper said he had no choice but to go after the money again. Otherwise, his proposed education cuts of $175 million would have to be even larger.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to make sure all the severance taxes go back into that grant program for the Department of Local Affairs, Hickenlooper said. Thats how the old school politics worked. Give out these grants in the right places, and things went well.
Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, said he will try to fight for more grant money, but he stopped short of saying it would be a make-or-break issue for him when it comes time to vote on the spending plan next spring.
We may end up having to support the budget with taking some severance tax money to balance the budget, but were sure going to have to hold our nose to do it, Brown said.
Kevin Bommer of the Colorado Municipal League, a lobbying group for cities, was happy that Hickenlooper left $10 million for grants.
Im accentuating the positive here, Bommer said. In a budget where hes proposing to cut almost $100 million to K-12 and almost $80 million to higher ed, we appreciate that hes acknowledging the importance of energy-impacted communities to him.
Legislators will have plenty of chances to tweak Hickenloopers plan, starting Wednesday, Nov. 9, when the Joint Budget Committee meets for the first time.
Reach Joe Hanel joeh@cortezjournal.com.