Colorado

Colorado

Budget Links

FY2026 (enacted)
FY2026 (proposed)
FY2025 (enacted)
FY2024 (enacted)
FY2023 (enacted)
FY2022 (enacted)
FY2021 (enacted)

Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2026

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the state’s fiscal 2026 budget bill into law on April 28. According to the Long Bill Narrative released by the Joint Budget Committee, the budget includes $46.53 billion in operating appropriations from all funds and $16.92 billion in general fund operating appropriations. This represents a 3.5 percent increase in total fund spending and a 7.1 percent increase in general fund spending over fiscal 2025 levels. After accounting for rebates and other expenditure adjustments, transportation and capital projects, and transfers and diversions, general fund spending obligations total $18.05 billion, a decrease of $351 million from fiscal 2025. The enacted budget leaves an ending balance in the General Fund Reserve of $2.4 billion. The budget is based on a gross general fund revenue forecast of $18.0 billion for fiscal 2025.

The budget prioritizes fiscal responsibility while making investments in education, public safety, health care, and economic development. The budget increases funding for Colorado schools to jumpstart the new, student-centered school finance formula and includes additional funds to support special education funding. Additionally, the budget makes investments in public safety by providing funding for public safety communication infrastructure, addressing youth delinquency, and implementing Colorado’s Proposition KK which designates spending to crime victims’ services. The budget also maintains Colorado’s fiscal reserves. 

Enacted Budget Information
Fiscal Year 2026 Enacted Budget 

Joint Budget Committee Long Bill Narrative 

Governor's Press Release 

Proposed Budget - Fiscal Year 2026

On November 1, Colorado Governor Jared Polis released his recommended budget for fiscal 2026. On January 2, the governor released amendments to the budget. The amended proposal calls for $46.4 billion in total fund spending, a decrease of 1.8 percent from fiscal 2025, and $17.9 billion in general fund operating spending, a decrease of 5.0 percent from fiscal 2025. Gross general fund revenue in fiscal 2026 is expected to total $17.9 billion, a 1.7 percent increase from the fiscal 2025 estimate. Combined with the state’s beginning balance of $2.1 billion, total forecasted general fund resources for fiscal 2026 are $20.03 billion, a 4.3 percent decrease from the fiscal 2025 estimate. The governor recommends a general fund reserve level of $2.3 billion, or 15 percent of general fund spending. 

Proposed Budget Highlights

The governor’s budget makes targeted investments in public safety, education and healthcare to enhance the state and maintains financial reserves. The following recommendations are included in the budget: 

Public Safety

• Supports and sustains Colorado’s emergency and operational communications dispatching system 
• Provides funds to the Crime Prevention through Safer Streets program to enable local governments and law enforcement entities to make physical infrastructure and security improvements 
• Invests funds in the Youth Delinquency Prevention and Intervention program that supports the collaborative work of community-based organizations and local government to reduce crime among youth 
• Allocates funds to expand capacity at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Fort Logan 
• Provides funds for Community Corrections to expand capacity at facilities 
  

K-12 Education

• Increases funding for K-12 education to preserve a significant balance in the State Education Fund 
• Increases funding for special education services for categorical services that provide funding to specific groups of students and student needs 
• Proposes funds to provide greater support to young students with reading deficiencies using evidence-based interventions 
• Proposes new resources to tackle chronic absenteeism in K-12 
• Continues to provide funding for the Universal Preschool Program 
• Increases funding to support Early Intervention which provides development support such as speech therapy to children from birth through age two with developmental delays 
  

Higher Education

• Provides funds to higher education institutions for an increase in financial aid and to keep salaries and benefits in line with inflation increases 
• Proposes a 2.3 percent increase for in-state tuition 
• Proposes improvements to the Colorado Promise tax credit 
  

Healthcare 

• Increases Medicaid funding to meet the higher forecasts for Medicaid caseload 
• Requests modest rollbacks in the Medicaid rate increases allocated in recent years 
• Proposes funds to go directly to counties to ensure the increased volume of Medicaid and SNAP cases will be processed in a timely and accurate manner
• Requests funds to operate the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community for individuals experiencing homelessness
• Provides new funding for the Behavioral Health Administration to expand access to behavioral health care 
  

Renewable Energy and Environmental Preservation 

• Proposes restructuring the operating budget of the Colorado Energy Office to provide stable, ongoing operation funding to maintain their professional staff 
• Proposes refinancing the severance tax Operational Fund to provide more annual predictability to meet General Fund priorities and fund water projects 
  

Economy

• Extends and expands the employee ownership tax credit 
• Expands eligibility for the Advanced Industries tax credit 
• Introduces a new contingent tax credit to promote film festivals in Colorado
• Proposes investments to help Colorado workers by preventing and addressing the crime of wage theft  
  

Commitment to Good Governance 

• Funds a 2.5 percent across-the-board increase in state employee compensation 
• Maintains reserves at 15 percent
  

Proposed Budget Information

Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Proposal

Budget Presentation

Governor's Press Release

Revenue Forecast - December 2024

Budget Amendments – January 2