PERRY: Oh, brother. Can you spare a couple billion so I can save the state and vote right on ballot props?

I am looking for about $2 billion, and I need your help.

It’s not for me or for the Sentinel. Although you’re welcome to send a few or many bucks to this non-profit news org to keep our reporters at city hall marathons or at blustery court hearings.

No, my job is to balance the state budget based on how the upcoming election could seriously change Colorado finances.

I’m neck deep in the Sentinel’s insidious new interactive simulation that lets you see how your votes on three statewide ballot measures could affect Colorado’s projected $1.6 billion budget shortfall. Then, you get to play state legislator and decide for yourself where to cut spending or invest more.

The Colorado Tradeoffs project was produced by the Colorado News Collaborative, the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs and Weigh In. It asks you to make decisions about statewide ballot questions affecting taxes and spending, then adjust funding across state services until the budget is balanced or shows a surplus.

The numbers behind the project come vetted from state budget offices and experts.

The hand-wringing and “starting over” again is up to you.

Three measures on the Nov. 3 ballot, Amendment 87, Prop 136 and Prop NN, could affect how much money the state has available, according to state economists. The simulation asks you to consider options such as adopting a graduated income tax or freezing the income tax at its current rate, which are among the wide range of ballot questions to be decided in the Nov. 3 Election.

Just like you, I’ve been practicing for this way-cool digital moment my entire life. Each year as the state legislature barrels up under the Gold Dome, I ask myself, “Why is it so hard for them to decide what to fund and what to cut?”
More and better roads? Yes.

Less gas tax? Yes.

Free healthcare for everyone, yes, please!

Here’s the problem for spendthrifts like me. Unlike Congress, which pretends to agonize over federal spending, Colorado cannot under law pass a budget that isn’t fully funded. In essence, cash in must match or exceed cash out. No deficit spending.

I’m that liberal dude who can’t say ‘no.’ So when I go through the Colorado Tradeoffs online ballot question and state budget balancing simulator, I got a problem.

More spending on schools, oh hellzyeah. Colorado lags far behind in per-pupil spending. And the ratio between what the state government pays for state college costs compared to what students must pay in their tuition payments is embarrassing.

Solving that problem, however, runs up the taxpayer tab about $2 billion.

That’s OK, though. I’m voting for Prop 87, which will milk the rich and add in that needed $2 billion. The problem is, the state is already facing a billion-dollar shortfall.

Crap.

No worries, I’m cool with ending the foolish practice of saving for a rainy day. It never rains here anymore, so I’m dialing back required state savings for reserves to, ummm, a lot less.

We’re good now. Wanna elect me as your state rep?

Oh, wait.

President Donald Trump and his big-ass bill, or whatever he calls it, is ending federal funding for childcare programs in Colorado. If we don’t keep those programs up, running and affordable, millions of Colorado families will have to quit a job to stay home and it’ll create a massive crisis.

So I need about $50 million.

Ummm, I guess I need another $280 million to cover the huge Medicaid shortage created by you know who at Mar-A-Lago

Crap. If we don’t beef up the Medicaid program, we’ll have a flood of senior citizens who use it for nursing home rent forced out into the streets.

Not good.

Oh, jeez. Prisons are underfunded to the tune of at least $40 million? So we’re just supposed to let them suffer in the slammer and then sue the state for abuse and mistreatment? Or turn criminals out in the street because there’s no room at the inn?

I need another $40 million.

Oh, and there are affordable housing problems.

This simulation is a lot of stimulation making clear this isn’t as easy as I used to think it was. 

It’s downright maddening trying to balance my good intentions on my limited budget.

But we have to boost school spending. And are you really willing to tell working people who can’t afford health insurance that they’re just going to have to suck it up and hope that cancer doesn’t spread?

Nope.

So, if you’ve got a couple of billion lying around, I could use your help here.

Or, you’re welcome to scroll down just a bit and jump into the Colorado Tradeoffs portal and make it all work for yourself.

Lemme know how that works for you.

Get to the portal at sentinelcolorado.weigh.in or just start it at the window below.

 Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com