Colorado voters, including those in Montezuma and La Plata counties, firmly rejected Proposition HH, the convoluted property tax relief bill backed by General Assembly Democrats and Gov. Jared Polis.
With 43% of active voters’ ballots counted in La Plata County, 55% of voters came out against the measure.
In Montezuma County, 43% of active voters participated in the election, of which 62% rejected the question.
The Associated Press called the race less than an hour after polls closed. With a voter turnout of 37% statewide, the “no” votes emerged victorious with a 20% lead. Of the 1.4 million votes cast, 60% rejected the measure.
Backers of the measure pitched the question as a mechanism to lower property taxes and counter surging home values, although critics were quick to point out that the bill’s actual impacts were more complicated – and unclear, as a result.
The measure would have lowered the residential property tax assessment rate, used to calculate taxable value of a property, to 6.7% and held it there until 2032. But it would also have increased the state’s revenue cap, first implemented by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, by 1% annually.
The additional revenue, which estimates say might have exceeded $2.2 billion by 2032, would have been used to backfill some local taxing entities to compensate for the decreased assessment rate.
The leftover money would have been used to fund education across the state to the tune of $125 million next year and $269 million in 2025.
Although the bill was pushed by Polis and Democrats in the Legislature, it did not have the support of fellow party members in Southwest Colorado.
La Plata County Assessor Carrie Woodson, a Democrat, voiced concerns about the impact of the added workload on her staff.
“Proposition HH was not given enough time for the affected groups to discuss and amend the bill prior to it going to a vote,” she said in an email to The Durango Herald. “Proposition HH was very complicated and had too many factors that depended on something else. It was as confusing to the state’s assessors as it was to the general public. Public policy should not be so complicated only a few highly educated experts understand it.”
The three county commissioners, also Democrats, expressed concern over the expected $567,000 decrease in tax revenue.
In an interview after Prop. HH’s defeat, Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said she commended the effort to fund education and provide property tax relief, and added that the rejection was a sign that lawmakers need to “roll up the sleeves and get to work.”
Certain elements of the measure, such as making the senior homestead exemption transferable when a qualifying property owner moves, were widely supported even by the bill’s detractors.
Porter-Norton said collaboration with municipalities, counties and citizens was needed to come up with a proposal that is “more palatable to the voters and less complicated.”
Officials at the Durango Fire Protection District said the measure would bring about a concerning decrease in needed funding and called it “very damaging.”
“I feel like the taxpayers saw that it was a very confusing, multifaceted proposition,” said Deputy Chief Randy Black. “… The real work really begins now.”
The La Plata County Republican Central Committee ran a messaging campaign strongly opposing the measure, warning voters it would “end” TABOR refunds.
In a brief emailed statement Tuesday night, the party chairwoman Shelli Shaw told the Herald, “We are thankful that our efforts to educate the voters appears to be paying off.”
The Durango School District 9-R Board of Education was one of the few local taxing entities to support the measure, and board member Katie Stewart said the loss was not unexpected.
“It’s not going to dissuade us from continuing to advocate for public education at a statewide level to make sure, at some point, it’ll be fully funded,” she said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
