Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter is revamping his proposal to freeze property-tax rates for school districts in an attempt to win political support from wavering Democrats and rural legislators.
The new plan reduces property-tax rates in 33 districts while locking rates at current levels in the remaining 145 districts.
The proposal would let school districts keep an extra $55 million, relieving the state from stepping in to pick up some of costs from local school districts.
“This is a way to address inequities in school districts that are suffering under exorbitantly high tax rates,” said Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Ritter.
Homeowners in the Lone Star school district in Washington County would see the biggest drop in their tax rates. Their property tax rate would be reduced from $37.875 per $1,000 of taxable value to $27 per $1,000 of taxable value.
Ritter’s property-tax proposal surfaced a month ago as the “Colorado Children’s Amendment of 2007.”
The governor wanted lawmakers to “stabilize” property-tax rates in school districts across the state as a way to stave off insolvency in the State Education Fund, a primary source of funding for schools.
But the amendment tripped quickly.
Republicans said the stabilization was a tax increase by another name. They also pointed out that the proposal called for the state to spend more money on schools than the tax-rate freeze would save at the local level.
The governor’s office and other supporters are now promoting the amendment as a way to address the unequal tax rates that exist between school districts around the state.
“This is a proposal to bring the rates down in the highest districts,” said Democratic state Treasurer Cary Kennedy.
The proposal would cut rates to $27 per $1,000 of taxable value in 33 districts in the following counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Baca, Conejos, Costilla, El Paso, Kit Carson, Larimer, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Otero, Phillips, Prowers, Pueblo, Rio Grande, Saguache, Sedgwick, Washington and Weld.
Still, Republican lawmakers expressed wary skepticism about the new plan.
“This is putting lipstick on the pig,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. “I think this is a tax increase. Gov. Ritter is using a paintball-gun approach where he is firing the gun at the wall to see where the splat goes.”
The Senate rejected an attempt by Republicans to force Ritter’s initial proposal into a bill providing school funding, with Democrats saying they wanted a legal opinion on whether the tax rate could be frozen.
Since then, the legislature’s lawyers have concluded that the plan would not violate constitutional provisions limiting tax collections.
Over the past 15 years, property rates have fallen in communities with high property values – forcing the state to step in and pick up more of the bill for running schools.
A Denver Post analysis found that 22 school districts that had received zero funding support for operating costs in 1993 are now collecting $50.5 million in state tax money. At the same time, property-tax rates in those communities have declined steadily.
A bill that would be amended to include the property-tax plan is set to be heard in the House education committee Monday.
If the amendment is approved in the House, the bill would return to the Senate.
In the Aspen School District, the property tax rate has been cut nearly in half between 1993 and 2006.
Meanwhile, the state contribution for operating the schools has increased from zero to $3.8 million, or 30 percent of the budget, according to the Colorado Department of Education.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
Ritter’s revamped plan
Under Gov. Bill Ritter’s revamped plan to freeze property-tax rates, property owners in the following 33 school districts would get an automatic cut in their current tax rates to $27 per $1,000 of taxable value.
The districts are:
Arriba-Flagler, Adams 12 Five Star, Brush, Buffalo, Calhan, Center, Cheraw, Cheyenne Mountain, Deer Trail, Edison, Ellicott, Fowler, Frenchman, Granada, Greeley, Holyoke, Julesburg, Karval, Lone Star, Moffat, Otis, Poudre, Pueblo City, Pueblo Rural, Sanford, Sargent, Sierra Grande, Springfield, Stratton, Vilas, Weldon, Westminster and Windsor.
