Colorado policymakers faced growing calls Monday for a special session on property taxes — for the second time in less than a year — to cut taxes even more and head off a pair of ballot initiatives that opponents warn would be disastrous for government budgets and services.
Talk of a potential deal with the backers of the property tax ballot initiatives has animated some state lawmakers in recent weeks. Pressure increased Monday as the mayors of Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora pushed for a compromise, as did a wide array of advocacy groups.
During an afternoon meeting, members of a special commission tasked with making recommendations about state property tax policy wrestled with the proposals. They didn’t land on a conclusive posture, but the commission was largely amenable to cutting rates farther than lawmakers did at the end of the most recent legislative session in May.
However, lingering sour feelings from the spring, when negotiations for sponsors to pull the proposed ballot measures failed, have left several legislators wanting firmer guarantees that a new armistice on future property tax battles would be long lasting.
“The chance of a special session is fairly high, if we can get these process and trust-building measures in places,” said Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and chair of the Commission on Property Tax. “It’s got to be more than a public statement. We’ve got to get something on paper — and preferably something that’s legally binding. I think that’s how we build assurance and trust on both sides.”
But Hansen said a special session would need to be called in the next few days to give the legislature time to meet before the Labor Day holiday. They also face the state’s Sept. 6 deadline for ballot initiatives to be withdrawn by sponsors ahead of the November election.
Democrats, who control both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, are in a standoff with the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado over property tax rates. Advance Colorado is running ballot initiatives 50 and 108, which together would restrain property tax collections and growth.
Combined, they would result in potentially billions of dollars in lower property tax collections, at the expense of state and local services. But the group says it will back off if lawmakers reconvene and reduce rates beyond the cuts implemented in May.
The most likely avenue for that to happen would be for Gov. Jared Polis to call a special session outright. He most recently invoked that power last November, when he called the legislature back to address property taxes following the trouncing of Proposition HH in last year’s election.
“We are encouraging these conversations”
He has not committed to a course of action, a spokesperson said Monday.
“Gov. Polis is listening seriously to all parties, including all those who are advocating that the legislature come back into special session to further reduce property taxes, build on the major tax cuts of the last two years, and continue saving people money without devastating our economic competitiveness and the future of K-12 and higher education funding,” Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman wrote in a statement.
“We are encouraging these conversations,” she added, “and are hopeful a deal can be reached and implemented to end this debate on property taxes for the foreseeable future while protecting funding for our schools and vital local services.”
Initiative 50 has already been approved for the November ballot as an amendment to the state constitution. If passed — it needs at least 55% support — it would cap local governments’ property tax revenue growth at 4% annually.
Initiative 108, which is undergoing petition signature verification now, would have a more immediate effect by lowering the assessment rate, or the percentage of a home’s value that’s used to calculate taxes owed by the owner. State economists warn that 108 would lead to nearly $2.4 billion less collected in 2026.
The special session proposal being floated includes proposed legislative cuts in rates. Comparatively, they would result in about $270 million less in property tax collections statewide, according to an analysis by the governor’s budget director, Mark Ferrandino.
Michael Fields, the president of the Advance Colorado Institute and chief proponent of the measures, said he’d pull them if lawmakers agreed to the additional property tax cuts in coming weeks.
Earlier negotiations stopped short of deal
But many lawmakers felt betrayed this spring. Colorado Concern, a nonprofit representing business interests that is another proponent of the initiatives, announced it opposed what several negotiators had thought was a deal to stop the ballot initiatives — though some, like Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said there was never a deal, only progress toward one.
In the final days of the session, the result of the discussions, Senate Bill 233, went on to become law.
Kirkmeyer said the framework being discussed by lawmakers now is effectively a continuation of those negotiations. She supports passing the new property tax reductions so people won’t end up priced out of their homes.
The threat seen by local government leaders and advocacy groups in the ballot measures put them in alignment with Kirkmeyer. On Monday morning, the mayors of the state’s three largest cities signed a joint letter calling for a special session to avert the initiatives. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is a Democrat, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman is a Republican and Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade is unaffiliated.
If passed, the two measures would “drastically de-fund K-12 schools statewide, deplete local public safety resources and demand crippling cuts to local fire districts and special districts,” they wrote. “We are depending on our legislature to ensure this does not happen.”
Later in the day, a swath of advocacy groups that are not often on the same side of issues — including builders, colleges, real estate agents, the Colorado Hospital Association, the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, and the economic justice nonprofit 9to5 Colorado — signed another letter. It urged a special session to avoid the “very significant and real threat” posed by the initiatives.
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Originally Published: August 13, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.
