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Immigration price tags sought
Democratic-controlled committee wants figures for what agencies spend on illegal immigrants. A think tank says taxes paid may offset the cost of services provided.

By Chris Frates
Denver Post Staff Writer

In anticipation of this week's special session on illegal immigration, the Democratic-controlled state budget committee is planning to grill Republican Gov. Bill Owens' Cabinet officials to determine how much the state spends on services to illegal immigrants.

The committee has asked seven executive directors from some of the state's biggest departments to testify Wednesday, a day before the special session begins. The judicial department and the secretary of state's office also are slated to appear.

The committee hopes to get answers from departments such as health, corrections and revenue to four questions:

What services do the departments provide and what are the costs?

How are those costs paid for?

What would it cost to screen applicants before services are provided?

How many more staffers would be needed?

Those questions have been at the crux of the debate on how to curb services to illegal immigrants as policymakers try to get a handle on how big the problem is. But answers have been in short supply.

"We're making a good-faith effort to get answers out of the administration so we can make some informed decisions on these bills," said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Dan Hopkins, Owens' spokesman, said the executive directors "will be happy to cooperate," but said he didn't know how many will be available to testify.

"I think some of this information is going to be very difficult to obtain by the 5th, especially given that it's a holiday weekend," Hopkins said.

Owens has been unable to say how much his administration is spending on such services.

But that hasn't stopped outside groups from trying to quantify the cost.

The Bell Policy Center - a nonpartisan think tank opposed to a defunct ballot measure to limit services - issued its own analysis Friday that concludes that state and local governments provide $225 million a year for services to illegal immigrants in Colorado.

Those services - public-school education, emergency health care and prisoner incarceration - are mandated by federal law.

At the same time, illegal immigrants in Colorado pay significant amounts in sales, property and income taxes. Bell officials calculate that they pay $159 million to $194 million per year.
"It's likely that it is close to a wash," said Wade Buchanan, president of the Bell Policy Center.

Buchanan conceded that tallying the exact costs and tax revenues is difficult partly because state and local officials don't check for citizenship in every program.

Staff writer Mark P. Couch contributed to this report.

Chris Frates can be reached at cfrates@denverpost.com or 303-820-1633.