DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado is spending more, and more per person, than it ever has.

It isn’t just that Colorado has more people, more taxes, or more inflation now. The state legitimately is spending more money per resident than it has in the last two decades.

The Colorado Legislature will probably approve a $36.4 billion budget this week, which doesn’t include an additional $4 billion worth of COVID-related funding that has yet to be doled out. Among other notable increases to line items are higher funding for K-12 schools and a 3% raise for state employees.

The new budget is the latest in a 20-year stretch of record budgets.

The budget has trended in this direction for decades now. The state budget has more than tripled in that time.

In 2000, the appropriations were about $11.1 billion. This year, they’re $38.1 billion.

There have only been two years in the last 23 where the budget wasn’t higher than the year before. It goes up an average of 6% per year.

Budget increases can be partially chalked up to inflation and population growth. However, Colorado’s spending has overshot both.

The state isn’t just spending more in general, it’s also spending more per person.

In 2000, the state budget came out to $2,694.88 per Coloradan. That ratio has been going up. In 2005, the state budget was $3,283.51 per person, then $3,917.88 in 2010.

The trend sped up in the 2020s. In 2015, the budget spent almost $4,889.38 per person, and now we’re spending about $6,290.36, or about 230% more per person than 20 years ago.