DENVER, March 19 (UPI) -- Revenue growth for Colorado for the next fiscal year will be lower by $43.7 million in part because of the slowdown in the oil industry, a state budget report said.
The Colorado Office of State Planning and Budget said the state's general revenue fund for fiscal year 2014-14 was relatively unchanged, with growth expected at 8.8 percent. Revenue growth for the fiscal year ending in 2016 is expected to decline by 0.4 percent, or $43.7 million, because of issues in the energy industry.
"Because the oil and gas industry and the economic activity associated with it have been an important part of the state's growth in the current expansion, there is risk of a larger economic slowdown than forecast, especially if oil prices decline further and remain low," an OSPB report published Wednesday said.
Colorado's government in February endorsed recommendations set forth by an oil and gas task force that gave more input to local officials on large-scale drilling operations, though it kept some local control over energy off the table.
The task force was proposed by Gov. John Hickenlooper in November as a way to reach a compromise between communities and the oil and gas industry.
Colorado is among the U.S. states rich in shale reserves. Crude oil production from 2007-13 rose 146 percent thanks in part to the Niobrara shale reserve area, which holds an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil.
Hickenlooper in his State of the State address in January said the energy sector in his state was "one of the more fertile fields of employment."
While unemployment rates in the state were at levels before the global economic downturn, the OSPB report said there are elevated concerns about unemployment in parts of the state.
Colorado's unemployment rate of 4.2 percent is 1.5 percent below the national average.
