Year round, CCI staff is engaging with commissioners, county staff, agency directors, legislators, and the governors office on both the state and county budgets. On this page you will find updates about past, current, and future budgets at both the state and county level.
SFY25-26 Budget
Governor Polis released his budget proposal for SFY25-26 in November 2024. CCI staff has curated a list of related materials for your convenience. This includes our latest legislative report on the budget, an earlier report on interim committees and budget forecasts, a letter from October 2024 from CCI Membership to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) on county budget requests, and an audio recording of the Governor’s briefing to the JBC on November 13th.
An Overview of The Budget Process
The 2025-26 Fiscal Year begins on July 1st, 2025, but the budget plan has to pass through many different hands before then. First, the Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) begins preparation in March of 2024, gathering data and forecasting the state’s overall fiscal situation. Then, they work with the Governor to develop an initial budget proposal which goes before the JBC for analysis and debate. At the same time, CCI and other organizations pour over the proposal for insights into how it will affect county governments, special districts, and municipalities. We solicit feedback from our membership and pass it along to the JBC, Governor, or whoever else will listen. They take this feedback and, in an ideal world, revise their proposal accordingly. It then goes back to the JBC who, upon approving it, send the budget proposal to the General Assembly for final review and ratification.
This illustrates just how much time and effort goes into planning the state budget. As such, CCI staff is here to assist you in understanding the budget proposals and their ever-changing nature. By design, it is a slow, deliberative process. The budget goes through many iterations before entering its final form.