SCFD Has Grown and Changed

In 2028, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) will be up for voter reapproval. It has been a huge success in funding cultural organizations and is praised and envied as a national model. There has, of course, been substantial growth in the seven county Denver metro area in both population and the number of cultural organizations serving the population since the SCFD voter approval in 1988. The amount distributed has also increased due to the growth in the revenue from sales tax. It produced $14 million 1989 and $85 last year.

The distribution formula of the SCFD has been adjusted at each of its three reauthorization elections (1994, 2004, 2016). The 1987 statute, approved by 75 percent of regional voters in 1988, allocated 65% of the funds to Tier I, 25% to Tier II, and 10% to Tier III. Today, after repeated adjustments, the formula is 59%, 24%, and 17% respectively (SCFD Annual Report 2024). Tier I began with four large regional organizations and after the 2004 legislative changes, now has five. Denver Center of Performing Arts, the largest organization in Tier II, was removed and placed in Tier I, providing more funding to share among Tier II mid-sized organizations. Tier III, smaller county level organizations, have had the most substantial increase from 10% to 17%, a seventy percent increase.

The table compares the percentages and total distribution (millions) of each SCFD Tier in 1989 and 2024.

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Trump Starts New Year in Trouble

Trump at World Economic Forum in Davos Photo via BBC.com

President Donald Trump celebrates the first anniversary of his January 20 inauguration deep in negative approval territory. Trump appears to ignore it, but it has the attention of Republicans facing a very difficult mid-term election.

Trump approval downturn, begun in November, was reflected in the November 4 Republican election wipeout. The public’s souring mood has continued in spite of Trump’s best efforts on economic action, public relations, and distracting foreign adventures.

His 13 percent negative approval is from the Republican-leaning Real Clear Politics. A different respected aggregator, Fifty Plus One, has him 16 points down, 40% approval to 56% disapproval.

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SCFD Approaching 40th Anniversary

Led by Six Executive Directors

The Scientific and Cultural District (SCFD) is a respected and envied national model for regional cultural funding. The District’s primary task is to distribute money collected from the one-tenth-of-a-cent sales tax to the cultural organizations and the counties in the district in a precise formula detailed by the SCFD statute (today about $85 million annually). The District has held three successful renewal elections and will have another in 2028.

The District has had six executive directors since its inception in 1989. All have been selected and governed by a board with representatives from the six – now – seven, counties in the Denver region and several additional appointments by the governor.

Executive directors’ terms have generally been 8 or 9 years. As the first director and person who helped draft the statute, I organized the first year’s distribution of approximately $14 million and helped hire the next executive director, Jane Hansberry. Directors have all had backgrounds in nonprofit or public policy management and have been mindful of the restrictions and purpose of the statute and its basic principles. The core of those are being frugal and careful stewards of taxpayer money and avoiding partisan and political activities.

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No Restraint on Trump Entering 2026

US President Donald Trump, alongside Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 3.Jim WATSON / AFP—Getty Images

In spite of a record low job approval, President Trump continues controversial daily foreign and domestic actions with little effective restraint from Congress, courts and widespread public opposition. Five guardrails were identified early in Trump’s term and he has crashed or scraped some but has done much better than expected on others.

Approval: His approval crossed into negative territory on the lunar eclipse, March 14, and it has grown more negative. It’s now at 43% in RCP and 40% in FPO, two well known aggregators. Although he’s playing defense on the economy, his weakest issue, Trump is still operating with his usual insouciance.

Inflation: Most economists predicted an uptick in inflation due to tariffs; it hasn’t happened.

Unemployment: Unemployment has started to increase. Trump believes the One Big Beautiful Bill tax cuts and lower interest rates will solve any unemployment problem.

DOW: The DOW’s 13% rise, the third double digit increase in three years, has pleased the investment class. He considers it his most important approval index.

House: Speaker Mike Johnson is in about the same terrible shape today he was at the start of his speakership. And, early predictions are he will lose the House, if closely, in 2026.

Trump begins 2026 in a weakened position but with no apparent restraints. Expect another wild year.

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2026 – The Era of Austerity Intensifies

Nearly 1,000 feet of welded pipe lays next to the Arkansas Valley Conduit ditch in eastern Pueblo County. (Mike Sweeney, Special to the Colorado Sun)

One year ago, in a Brighton speech on a snowy January day, I described Colorado’s new era of austerity to the Denver regions’ mayor’s association. Recognition was just beginning that Colorado was in a major population and tax revenue slowdown. Within two months, local and state government began adjusting to the fiscal crisis and announcing budget reductions, program cuts, and layoffs.

The presentation was only four days after President Trump’s inauguration. While it was obvious federal budget disruptions were coming, no one saw the depth, speed or partisanship of the Federal retrenchments.

Colorado has been placed on a Trump hit list for fiscal punishment. Funding for a major, long-promised water project in the Arkansas Valley was just vetoed. This week, $10 billion in federal health, food and child care services funding was frozen for Democratic states – Colorado, California, Illinois, New York and Minnesota. The list reflects the Administration’s claim that Democratic states likely share the Minnesota fraud problem. But more important for Colorado is the state’s lack of cooperation to free Trump supporter and election denier, Tina Peters.

The era of austerity is just beginning.

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Market Ends Up Despite the Drama and Chaos

President Donald Trump holds up a chart of reciprocal tariffs chart
Photo: Chip Somodevilla Getty Images

The dire predictions during President Trump’s first quarter, which included surging inflation and a slowing economy proved mostly wrong.

After his abrupt January start and breakneck pace, Trump shocked the political and economic establishment with DOGE cuts, Liberation Day tariffs (April 2), and mass deportations. The reaction from the investment class was a market dive that didn’t recover until June. But hard numbers reported on inflation and unemployment moved only slightly and the drama and chaos didn’t hold the markets down.

The DOW ended the year up 13 points. The third year of double-digit returns (up 12.9 points in 2024 and 13.7 in 2023). The S&P grew 16 points and the NASDAQ composite up 20, mostly driven by the AI investment boom.

Although the new year promises more foreign and domestic conflict, the market appears to be reasonably optimistic that interest rate and tax cuts and continued AI investment will provide an upbeat early year. But expect churn - four years of record market growth is possible, not probable.

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Trilogy on Trump’s Declining Approval

Lisa Benson - Tribune Content Agency

After a stronger start in January 2025 than in his first term (January 2017), Donald Trump’s presidential approval has dropped deep into negative territory, flashing danger signs for Trump and Republicans facing 2026 mid-term elections. Since Republican defeats in the November 4 election, Trump is increasingly seen as a lame duck.

A trilogy of Ciruli posts describes Trump’s most recent descent and the impact it may have on the mid-term elections:

• Will Democrats Win the House?
• Speaker Johnson Ties House to Trump
• Trump’s Mandate “Enough”

As the Trump first year ends, with his approval remaining in record negative territory of minus 10 percent in the RCP site. The polling aggregator Fifty Plus One has him down 16 points. His economic rating is a negative 15 points (RCP). The low rating accompanying the decline in consumer confidence, steady but continued inflation.

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