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August 29, 2024 02:25 PM UTC

Special Session Achieves Desired Goals With Minimal Bullcrap

1 Comments
by: Colorado Pols

A release from Governor Jared Polis this afternoon celebrates the successful conclusion of a special session of the Colorado General Assembly, with the passage of property tax relief legislation that will–as long as all sides keep their word–result in the removal of two considerably more extreme property tax cut measures which have already qualified:

“Today we took an important step for Colorado to end the property tax wars. With this bipartisan effort, we are saving hardworking Coloradans money on property taxes, saving households money on utility bills, making our small businesses more competitive, and protecting funding for our schools. I thank our legislative leaders for coming together to deliver savings for Coloradans. I look forward to seeing the risky ballot measures pulled down and signing this legislation into law so small businesses and homeowners can keep more of their hard earned money,” said Governor Polis.

The framework outlined in this bill reduces the assessment rate for all residential property from 6.4% to 6.25% unless statewide value growth exceeds 5% from 2024 to 2025, in which case it would decrease to 6.15%. It also lowers the assessment rate for schools district mill levies to 7.05 percent from 7.15 percent, unless statewide actual value growth exceeds 5 percent from 2024 to 2025, in which case the rate will decrease to 6.95 percent.The assessment rate for school district mill levies is set at the 2025 level for all future property tax years. Nonresidential assessment rates. For all district mill levies, most nonresidential classes – except for oil and gas, producing mines, improved commercial, and agricultural – from 29 percent to 27 percent.

Savings from this special session, combined with savings from SB24-233 passed earlier this year, will save Coloradans across the state hundreds of dollars on their property taxes. In Denver, the median home price is $709,920 and the average savings for Coloradans on their tax bill will be $233.47 in Tax Year 25 and $259.91 in Tax Year 26. In Adams County, the median home price is $556,660 and the average savings will be $324.22 in Tax Year 25 and $366.42 in Tax Year 26. In Garfield County, with the median home price of $540,700, the average savings will be $188.52 in Tax Year 25 and $214.03 in Tax Year 26. In Pueblo County the median home price is $326,260 and the average property tax savings will be $173.26 in Tax Year 25 and $196.36 in Tax Year 26.

Along with the additional property tax savings provided to homeowners and small businesses during this session, Xcel, Black Hills and Tri-State are required to pass property tax savings from this legislation on to their customers, saving Xcel, Black Hills, and Tri-State customers about $100 per household over the next five years on their energy bills.

The Governor will plan to sign this bill once Initiatives 50 and 108 are pulled from the ballot. [Pols emphasis]

Final passage of House Bill 24B-1001, which is as sexy a name as the process that produced it deserves, was opposed by a small “wraparound” contingent in the House and Senate of both progressive and arch-conservative lawmakers: progressives upset that additional proposals for lower-income tax relief and local control of property tax changes didn’t make the cut, and conservatives because little short of the draconian cuts in the two initiatives being pulled from the ballot would ever have appeased them. Some progressive fiscal policy advocates believed (and probably still do believe) that these initiatives could have been defeated in a straight fight, and that doing so would have been preferable to empowering the irresponsible actors behind Initiatives 50 and 108.

In the end, however, the risk that would be borne by school districts, emergency services, and local governments in a showdown at the polls was considered too great, and the relatively small concession made to the government bathtub-drowners in the final deal compared to the widespread harm these initiatives would have inflicted made the decision to negotiate the right one. Millions of dollars that would have been spent battling back these bad measures can now be spent more gainfully.

Best of all for the more levelheaded lawmakers on both sides, worries that the special session would be derailed by lawmakers with little to lose never came to fruition. No breakdowns of order over foreign policy or LGBTQ+ rights. A session called to address property taxes managed to accomplish that singular goal with minimal collateral fuss, and that’s a win for the party in power.

One thought on “Special Session Achieves Desired Goals With Minimal Bullcrap”

Gilpin Guy says:

August 29, 2024 at 4:21 pm

It was the right thing to do to negotiate on this issue. The likelihood of both ballot issues passing was very high and the long term damage to public institutions would have been TABOR level. Good job by all sides to get along and get this done.

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Special Session Achieves Desired Goals With Minimal Bullcrap

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