DENVER — The push is on for a newly created task force to find ways to lower future Colorado property taxes.
The Commission on Property Tax, a 19-person task force, met for the first time Wednesday at the State Capitol. It was the first of several meetings between now and March 15.
Wednesday’s meeting started off as a history lesson to educate committee members on Colorado property tax law, what’s changed over the years and how we got to where we are now.
The task force has yet to formulate a solution, but they did learn more about some of their options to help lower future property tax increases while still providing funding to government entities such as public schools and fire departments.
The goal is to balance the needs of homeowners, local government and businesses.
At their first meeting, members watched presentations from multiple people including Colorado State University’s Chief Financial Officer Henry Sobanet, who suggested that the commission should consider a redesign of how property taxes are collected.
“It’s glaringly apparent that if you could design a better school finance system, you could then separate how we pay for schools and what we want property taxes to do for schools from what all other local governments want to do with their assessed values and their mill levies that they’re dealing with, with local control and elected officials like yourself,” said Sobanet.
The commission will meet again on Jan. 5.
Their final report is due March 15, and then their recommendations will then be presented to the General Assembly.
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