An Important Message from the Governor
The Office of Governor Polis
November 29, 2023
Dear Local Elected Officials and Property Tax Administrators,
I want to begin by thanking you for serving as a leader in your community as the head of a local taxing jurisdiction.
Most areas of Colorado have seen a historic increase in home values. Residential properties are up nearly 40% statewide. For some areas, the increases are over 50%. I’m writing to ask you and your board to play a critical role in making Colorado more affordable. With the state now having taken action, the final opportunity to provide meaningful property tax relief for property owners in 2023 lies with you and I’m hopeful you can help provide additional relief.
The state has taken several steps to avoid large increases in homeowners’ property tax bills. The legislature placed Prop HH on the ballot to provide a permanent way to keep property taxes low, with a generous backfill for local governments. With opposition from the left and the right, it didn’t pass.
I then immediately called a special session of the legislature and asked them to do everything we could for homeowners owners. I’m proud that we subtracted $55,000 per home from property tax valuation and reduced the residential assessment rate to 6.7%, for many Coloradans, including your constituents, which, when paired with other recent measures by the state from 2021 and 2022 will provide as much relief from the state as we could get done. But for many Coloradans, including your constituents, this is simply not enough.
Now it’s up to you - local elected officials - to do more, which is why I am urging you to reduce the tax rate (mill levy) in your district. Hardworking people in Colorado cannot afford a 40% increase in their tax bills, or even a 20% increase. Wages have not gone up by anything close to this amount, and high inflation and interest rates are creating an affordability challenge for many Colorado families.
I appreciate that you work hard to pass a budget that is responsive to the needs in your community. With the historic rise in property values, most districts can make significant rate cuts and still maintain strong revenue growth at or above the rate of inflation. I urge you to consider this and reduce your mill levy as much as possible. I recently signed bipartisan legislation providing statutory authority for you to temporarily reduce your mill levies, so you can lower your levies this year without risking a permanent loss of revenue in an uncertain future. Across the state districts like yours can help provide needed property tax relief.
I have asked the Department of Local Affairs to provide guidance to you on options that you can take to lower rates this year while preserving your budgetary flexibility. DOLA’s helpful toolkit is attached to this letter.
One other way you can get involved is by engaging in the Property Tax Task Force established during the recent special legislative session by HB23B-1003. This bi-partisan group is tasked with looking at long-term, locally driven solutions to property taxation, and your engagement is key to that group’s success.
This year is like nothing we’ve seen before. Property owners are now looking to their local elected officials for help during this challenging time. Each and every one of Colorado’s four thousand taxing jurisdictions can be a part of this solution by reducing rates, even if by a small amount. If we all work together - the state and every local government - we can ensure homeowners throughout Colorado are protected.
Thank you,
Colorado Governor
