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Gov. Ritter Looks Ahead Colorado Recession's End

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Apr 3, 2009 7:09 am US/Mountain

Gov. Ritter Looks Ahead Colorado Recession's End

Written by Brooke Wagner

Reporting
Brooke Wagner
DENVER (CBS4) ― Gov. Bill Ritter is on the front line of our state's day-in, day-out battle to beat the recession. In the end, he believes Colorado will win the war.

"I'm very hopeful that Colorado could be one of the first to re-emerge and that we could come out off this at the end of 2009," Ritter said.

Ritter said federal stimulus money from the Recovery and Reinvestment act is already playing a big part in that recovery.

"We're already seeing the money, just based on the decisions we're making in state government, where we don't have to make cuts," Ritter said. "There is also money here that is saving jobs. If you think about the money flowing into school districts, and I've heard one pretty sizeable school distrcit saying, because of the package, they'll avoid laying off 500 teachers."

President Barack Obama announced the stimulus package could create 59,000 jobs in our state, but Ritter said that number stands to grow significantly, particularly due to jobs saved.

Colorado was slated to receive an initial $1.9 billion, as well as about $4 billion in tax cuts, but Ritter said the state could earn much more through federal programs such as "Race to the Top," which will award money to states for education reform.

"We're starting to see some signs of the turnaround that the stimulus package has had an impact on," said Ritter. "You'll see transportation projects under way by June. There will be a logo that will be about recovery."

Meanwhile, Ritter and the rest of our lawmakers grapple with balancing the budget. Ritter and his budget team proposed $600 million in cuts, which were accepted by the Joint Budget Committee. A total of $800 million worth of cuts were proposed for next fiscal year.

"In Colorado, constitutionally you must submit a balanced budget, so if you get closer and closer to the end of your fiscal year and you're not balanced, you have to make the cuts ... and we've done that," Ritter said. "We've tried to avoid the impact on education, but it hasn't been wholly unavoided."

Ritter said more students will attend larger classes, some property owners will see tax exemptions removed and still other Coloradans will feel a pinch seeking human services. Still, Ritter pointed out, Colorado has fewer budget problems than many other states.

"The lead indicators are starting to look more positive. The municipal bond market is starting to loosen up. The housing market didn't dip in the metro area as much as it did in other places. And if we could just keep some stability in the housing market, just avoid further foreclosures ... that will help us re-emerge.

"We're having really exciting conversations with companies about economic development, whether about moving into Colorado, or expanding here in Colorado, much of it is around the new energy economy," said Ritter.

In fact, Ritter believes Colorado may be one of the first states to come out of the recession.

"I think everybody has to tighten their belt for a good part of 2009, but understand that there are enough indicators telling us that the end of the recession could come in 2009, we could see growth by the first quarter of 2010."

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