As the pandemic began affecting livelihoods last year, Stephanie Maney would sometimes catch a glimpse of her phone number on TV news broadcasts, news stories or communication from the state’s housing division or Gov. Jared Polis’ office. Sometimes it was 303-864-7852. Other times 303-864-7810. Sometimes both. She was the only person answering calls from Coloradans […]
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Posted inBusiness, News, Politics and Government
8 big things you need to know about Colorado’s $34 billion state budget
Colorado lawmakers this week began debating the state’s $34.1 billion budget, which helps chart a path out of the coronavirus crisis and sets aside millions of dollars for equity-related initiatives and a historic sum for future economic downturns. The legislature was able to reverse funding cuts made as the pandemic descended upon the state last […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: To recover from COVID-19’s impact, Colorado must invest in the workers who are getting us through it
For a year, since COVID-19 reached our state, Coloradans have faced unprecedented threats to the health of our communities. Throughout it all, essential workers have gotten us through the worst of the pandemic and are keeping our communities and economy going. Many of those front-line workers are Colorado’s state employees, who work tirelessly to fulfill […]
Posted inCOVID
Colorado state workers ordered to take unpaid furlough amid state budget shortfall
Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday that he will order most of Colorado’s 30,000 government employees to take an unpaid furlough to help address the state’s budget crunch. The move — expected to be formalized in an executive order — applies to executive branch employees making more than $50,000 a year and is tiered to lessen […]
Posted inBusiness, Politics and Government
To balance budget, Colorado lawmakers add to PERA’s long-term debt and backtrack from landmark deal
Just two years after Colorado approved sweeping pension reforms aimed at wiping out what was then an unfunded $32 billion debt to public sector retirees, state budget writers — facing a financial catastrophe of their own — have temporarily undone a portion of the landmark rescue package. The Joint Budget Committee tentatively decided to eliminate […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado public employees are critical to the coronavirus response
Colorado has been fighting the coronavirus for weeks, with daily horror stories of the toll it’s taking on working people, our families and the services we provide in our communities. Yet many people whose work went unnoticed and under-appreciated in the past are now front and center: cashiers, home health care workers, janitors, delivery drivers, […]
Posted inCOVID, Politics and Government
Colorado lawmakers began slashing the budget and state employees are bracing for the worst
Two weeks after she tested positive for COVID-19, Brandi Axelsen is still waiting for her symptoms to subside so she can return to work. The licensed psychiatric technician works for the state of Colorado and contracted the disease on the job helping clients with developmental disabilities. Her state-paid sick days expired and she now must […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Politics and Government
Low pay. Cuts to PERA. For some state workers in Colorado, it’s like the recession never ended.
When Colorado state workers took a temporary 2.5% pay cut in 2011 to shore up the state’s pension plan, Jane Wilson didn’t like it, but she understood. The country was in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. And the stock market’s 2008 freefall had put the Public Employees’ Retirement Association […]