Easy as Pie: The Colorado Budget in Charts

You've probably heard that most of Colorado's General Fund budget goes to just 5 (out of 22) departments. Fascinating, huh? Well it gets even more interesting if you start slicing up the budget different ways. Especially when you factor in the way we've been balancing the budget.

For instance, this year we're cutting costs by furloughing state employees. Furloughs are a tricky way to save money.

Think about prisons. Correctional officers can't just take a day off and leave the inmates on the honor system. Not living by the honor system is what led them to become inmates in the first place.

If we furlough one guard, another has to come in (on overtime) to take his or her place. No savings there.

That's why the governor said right up front that the furloughs wouldn't apply to all state employees. He did say that, and in some detail. Apparently one investigative reporter wasn't paying attention.

In any case, the furloughs don't apply to agencies that have to stay staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Those agencies are Corrections (prisons), Human Services (mental health institutes, e.g.) and Public Safety (State Patrol).

Judicial, by the way, is a separate branch of government and its ability to fulough judges, for instance, is limited by the constitution.

Here's how Personal Services look divided up by department:

(click on the chart to make it bigger)

You can see why some state employees are irritated.  Once you take Corrections, Human Services and Public Safety (and to some extent, Judicial) out of the mix, the furloughs fall pretty heavily on less than a quarter of all state employees.