PHOTO: Former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens addresses the audience during a No on Proposition HH watch party in Aurora, Nov. 7, 2023. (Kevin Mohatt for Colorado Newsline)
Colorado seems to have gotten this ‘mail ballot election’ stuff down to a science. The polls closed, statewide, at 7pm. By 8:45pm, I had already received a press release from the Colorado House Republicans, announcing the defeat of Proposition HH — the controversial ‘property tax reduction’ measure that wouldn’t actually have reduced property taxes — and calling for a special session of the Colorado General Assembly to address the property tax question at the legislative level. More about that in a moment.
When I checked the Colorado Secretary of State website, sure enough, Prop HH had been defeated by a sizable margin.
A more thorough discussion of the Prop HH defeat can be found on Colorado Newsline.
Prop II — another tax measure, but one that would affect only tobacco smokers and other nicotine users — was approved. The additional taxes will be used to fund preschool programs.
A tax measure on the ballot that will affect specifically Archuleta County and Hinsdale County property taxes, was ballot issue 5A, approved by nearly a 3-to-1 margin.
5A proposed a permanent extension of the ‘Mill Levy Override’ that voters approved in 2018. That earlier approval of a $1.7 million boost to local school funding would have expired in 2025.
This approved extension allows for a wider variety of uses than the 2018, which required the revenues to be spent on staff salaries, school safety and security, and full-day kindergarten. Full-day kindergarten was subsequently funded by the state government. The new 2023 approval allows the $1.7 million in annual tax revenues to be used for any “educational purposes”.
The other local election matter in Archuleta County was the election of Archuleta School District School Board members. Two candidates ran for their district seats unopposed: Dana Guinn, and Butch Mackey. Both are incumbents.
In the competitive races, the incumbent Board members, Bob Lynch and Amanda Schick, coasted to victory over their challengers, Christa Laos and Jessica Trujillo respectively.
Looking at the School Board results and the 5A approval, it appears that the Archuleta County community is supportive of the school district’s general direction and leadership.
We will note that these are preliminary numbers. The final ‘official’ tally will be announced later in November. But the numbers will not change noticeably.
According to the Secretary of State, the statewide voter turnout was about 37% of active voters. Archuleta County had a significantly higher turnout, with about 45% of active voters casting ballots — 5,166 ballots cast, out of 11,494 active voters. The county showed slightly more support for Prop HH than the voters did statewide, with 44% voting ‘Yes’ compared to 40% statewide.
(All the percentages quoted in this editorial are rounded, to avoid typing unimportant decimals.)
Looking forward to the failure of Prop HH at the polls, the Republican minority in the General Assembly has been calling for a special session to reduce property taxes legislatively.
The email I received at 8:45 last night, from the Colorado House Republicans, read in part:
Today, leaders of the House Minority Caucus renewed their call for Governor Jared Polis to call a special session to address property taxes after the defeat of Proposition HH.
“Coloradans again are rejecting the sweeping policies of Democrats to radically increase the size of government and their tax burden,” said House Minority Leader Mike Lynch (R-Wellington). “Voters clearly saw through the legislature’s tax scheme intended to take more of their hard-earned money by historically increasing taxes. Republicans continue to ask that we and the Governor correct this fixable property tax mess now. Don’t make Coloradans wait any longer. Our caucus looks forward to coming to the table, rolling up our sleeves and finding real property tax relief for all Coloradans. The Governor has my phone number. I’ll be waiting for his call,” added Lynch.
“For months, our members have been speaking out against HH. Now, the people of Colorado have spoken,” said House Assistant Minority Leader Rose Pugliese (R-Colorado Springs). “Coloradans deserve clean property tax relief and that is why two weeks ago we presented a plan for reducing both property tax and income tax to the public. We look forward to delivering on making Colorado a more affordable place to live in a special session,” added Pugliese.
On October 25, The Colorado House Republicans, along with their counterparts in the Colorado Senate, called on the Governor to call a special session and proposed three bills to address property taxes.
The first bill allows seniors who had previously qualified for the senior homestead exemption to receive the same property tax benefit for any home they purchase and live in as their primary residence. The bill would also double the current exemption amount from $100,000 to $200,000.
The second bill would lower the assessment rates for all residential, and most nonresidential properties. The residential property assessment rate would decrease from 7.15% to 6.7%; the first $50,000 in value being exempted. The bill would also lower the nonresidential property assessment rate from 29% to 27.9%.
The third bill would permanently reduce the state’s income tax from 4.4% to 4%.
During a televised debate in late October, Governor Polis did not offer any ‘Plan B’ for providing property tax relief in 2024. He seemed to assume that Prop HH would be approved.
Tax bills are scheduled to go out in January, giving the General Assembly only a few weeks to address property tax increases. Home values increased by about 40% this year.
Will Polis call a special session? I certainly hope so.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.