The Colorado Senate is expected to approve Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter’s controversial plan to freeze property-tax rates to benefit schools this week – despite a last-minute effort by Republican Attorney General John Suthers to derail it.
Several statehouse officials familiar with the vote tally said Friday that Ritter’s office has enough support to enact the annual school-funding bill, which now includes the property-tax proposal.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, and President pro tem Peter Groff, D-Denver, said they planned to vote in favor of the school-funding bill as it is.
Other senators and legislative staffers said the House wouldn’t have given its final approval on Friday – on a 41-20 vote – unless the Senate votes were in place.
Five Republican representatives joined 36 Democrats in voting for the school-funding bill – a move that saps some of the partisan edge out of the battle.
If passed into law, the Ritter proposal would be a significant change in how the state handles school funding because it would lock property-tax rates in place in 175 of the state’s 178 school districts.
The move is expected to let districts keep $55 million next year and an increasing amount in future years, relieving some pressure on the state to provide that amount for schools.
Freezing property-tax rates would prevent automatic decreases caused by state law and constitutional amendments.
On Friday, Suthers’ office released a memo saying the Ritter plan has “the direct effect of raising the property tax burden of many taxpayers on the state” and thus must be submitted to the voters for approval.
Ritter’s office replied that the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Legal Services has twice concluded that the freeze is legal and doesn’t violate the state constitution.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
