Budgets - I

The guys over at RMNP are hyperventilating about Denver's budget cuts. The Rocky reported that it's the smallest budget in 5 years, which strikes some of us as a potentially terrific development - governments having to actually cut spending! Not the "Progressives," who claim that none uf us could live on 1998's budget. See, 2003 minus 5 = 1998.

Well, ok except that the budget is for 2004, and is only $2 million less than the 2000 budget. So, while technically the 5-year number is right, it's also pretty misleading. And someone should step up and buy the Progressives a calendar.

Here are the budget totals for the last 6 years:

• 1999 $657.0 million
  
• 2000 $714.0 million
  
• 2001 $761.0 million
  
• 2002 $747.0 million
  
• 2003 $720.9 million
  
• 2004 $712.6 million
  

So this year's budget is a healthy 8% higher than 1999's, and from the looks of the graph in the 2002 Budget, a healthy 15% higher than 1998's, or about what inflation would have gotten us to, anyway. Don't worry, JB, we won't starve.