When Helena Perez of Newcastle bought a white Subaru two years ago, her car wasn鈥檛 the only thing she wanted to upgrade. She also wanted different license plates to go with it. She thought Colorado鈥檚 standard white and green license plates were boring and wanted 鈥渟omething new and fresh.鈥�
For an extra $25 fee she decided to get the state鈥檚 reissued black license plates, with white lettering.
鈥淚 thought it was retro,鈥� she told CPR News. 鈥淚 thought it looked really nice, the combination of the black plates with the white vehicle. I really liked that.鈥�
What she hasn鈥檛 liked so much is seeing how many other people have had the same idea; the roads these days seem to be full of black plates.
鈥淭hey look like mine. I like to be unique,鈥� she lamented.
Over the past few years, Colorado has started to reissue a number of historic license plate designs in solid red, blue, or black, as well as green mountains on a white background. The black plates, originally from 1945, have been by far the most popular. According to the most recent figures, there are now roughly 378,000 thousand vehicles with black license plates on Colorado鈥檚 roads.
鈥淚t鈥檚 become very popular,鈥� said Benjamin Meyerhoff, the Colorado Disability Funding Coordinator, whose office is housed in the state鈥檚 newly created Colorado Disability Opportunity Office.
So popular in fact 鈥� bringing in a million dollars each month 鈥� that this money could soon be a victim of its own success, as cash-strapped lawmakers look anywhere and everywhere for funds to balance the state budget.
With Colorado facing , lawmakers are weighing whether money collected for specific things, like the plate fees that support disability services, should be redirected to blunt cuts to core areas of the state budget, like education and Medicaid.
A long relationship between special plates and disability services
In 2011 the disability community, tired of hearing over and over that there wasn鈥檛 money in the state budget for the things their members needed, came up with the idea to auction off highly desirable personalized license plates. Over the years, cannabis-themed plates and the names of pro sports teams.
The returns were modest, to say the least. The program generated only $100,000 over its first decade according to state figures. But bringing back the historic license plates has been a game changer. Coloradans are paying around $12 million a year to put those plates on their cars.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really great example of sifting through the couch cushions for change and that change adding up to a whole bunch of money. It鈥檚 pretty extraordinary actually,鈥� said Danny Combs, head of the state鈥檚 new Colorado Disability Opportunity Office.
The money helped set up that office, which will coordinate all disability services in the state, as well as funding grants to various organizations. Both the office and the grants are overseen by people with disabilities.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 really important in this particular program is that the decisions where the money goes are made by people with disabilities,鈥� said Lt. Gov Dianne Primavera, whose office helped set up this license plate program. 鈥淭hey have their finger on the pulse much better than some of the rest of us.鈥�
Half of the money goes to help people with disabilities access the full range of benefits they may be eligible for, like Medicaid, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. The other half goes to innovation grants to improve people鈥檚 quality of life.
In that realm, Meyerhoff said, 鈥渢he sky鈥檚 the limit.鈥� Grantees have included a training program to work in food service and an effort to design accessible pinball machines. One nonprofit got help to put in a vibrating dance floor so deaf people could feel the beat and follow the music.
A pot of money too tempting to ignore
While people with disabilities have celebrated the increase in funding, the grant program could become a casualty of this year鈥檚 state funding shortfall.
The lawmakers in charge of writing the budget need to find more than a billion dollars to keep state finances in balance, and redirecting the revenue raised by specialty license plates is one of the options they鈥檙e looking at.
The fees for Colorado鈥檚 200 or so specialty license plates, which include the historic black, blue and red designs, raise about $30 to $40 million annually. That money is earmarked for specific programs, but it all counts toward the overall cap on how much money the state is allowed to spend each year under the Taxpayer鈥檚 Bill of Rights.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 something that you wouldn鈥檛 think of as being particularly difficult or problematic for the state鈥檚 budget, but it is,鈥� said Democratic Rep. Shannon Bird. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impacting what the state could otherwise use to invest in key services.鈥�
So Bird and other members of the Joint Budget Committee are looking to potentially sweep the specialty license plate funds into the general budget, to help blunt how deeply they will have to cut into other programs, like K-12 schools and Medicaid, which make up the largest share of state spending.
鈥淢edicaid is crucial,鈥� said Bird. 鈥淭hey are the most vulnerable people in our communities that without this coverage won鈥檛 be able to enjoy any quality of life. People need oxygen, they need diabetes medication, they need heart medication. They rely upon Medicaid for all of these things.鈥�
Many people with disabilities also use Medicaid to pay for services like in-home care, so they can live independently, and for medical equipment and wheelchairs. But Meyerhoff thinks the needs met by the current grants are too great to redirect this money.
鈥淭hese funds deserve to go to folks with disabilities to improve their lives,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his historically is an underfunded community, and just because the state is having a difficult time funding-wise doesn鈥檛 mean that these funds should go to the general fund. We need these funds.鈥�
Other advocates seem more resigned to the possibility the money could be redirected. Hillary Jorgensen, one of the heads of the Cross Disability Coalition, said she hopes any redirected funding would still go to programs that help people with disabilities, and that the state would restore the grant funding in future years.
鈥淚 think it would be really a misstep to cut the program completely,鈥� she said.
No final decisions have been made yet, and some of it could hinge on the state鈥檚 next economic forecast on March 17. That will provide the final numbers the budget committee needs before it can present its proposed spending package to the full legislature.
Adding an extra layer of uncertainty over this whole process is the question of what may happen at the federal level.
鈥淲e are also very much aware that there are some things that are beyond our control that will have a big impact on the work we鈥檙e doing or have the potential to have a big impact on our role,鈥� said Democratic Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder who sits on the budget committee.
However, the Colorado drivers that CPR News spoke with were unaware of the potential drama surrounding their plates.
Jesse Bennas of Carbondale has a solid red plate on his vehicle, his wife has a solid blue and his father-in-law, the black plates.
鈥淚 liked it a lot and it matches my car and I get a lot of compliments on it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad the money鈥檚 going to good places.鈥�
For Perez, it was her first time learning the extra fee she paid for her black plates helps support the disability community.
鈥淭hank you for letting me know,鈥� she told a reporter. 鈥淏ecause I had no idea that I was contributing to this, but now I feel better about myself honestly.鈥�
She said she鈥檒l no longer feel annoyed when she sees all those black plates on the road.
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