Gov. Jared Polis has called Colorado Legislature back for a special session beginning at 10 a.m. on Aug. 26th to pass an expanded property-tax-relief package and avoid a ballot showdown on the subject.
Initiative 50, which already has been certified for the ballot, would cap annual statewide increases in property-tax revenue at 4% and require a statewide vote if governments wanted to keep revenues more than that. Initiative 108, which is currently undergoing examination of its submitted signatures, would reduce 7.15% residential assessment rates to 5.7% and 29% commercial and agricultural assessment rates to 24% in 2025 and require the state to backfill local governments seeing a revenue decline because of the measure.
Legislators passed Senate Bill 233 in the final days of the 2024 session. It capped annual growth in statewide property-tax revenues for local governments at 5.5% but exempted revenue going to school districts or pledged to repay bonds and other debt. It also lowered commercial assessment rates to 25% and residential rates to 6.95%, calculated after residents deduct 10% of home value, up to $70,000.
A potential new bill would reduce existing assessment rates for most kinds of property, would impose stricter caps on annual growth in statewide property-tax revenue than legislators approved in 233 and would add $300 million in additional tax savings to that law.
