A failed plan to help community colleges by allowing them to raise taxes locally bobbed back to the surface this week for a second chance after sponsors amended the proposal onto another still-breathing bill.
The legislation — heralded as a way to help small schools’ budgets without large tuition increases — sank earlier this year when four-year universities wanted in on the action, sponsor and House Minority Leader Mike May said.
“It was a feeding frenzy,” May said. The four-year schools “were creating these huge tax districts.”
The proposal, now attached to Senate Bill 295, would require small colleges to seek permission from their local communities to form tax districts.
It was laid over in the House on Tuesday but must come up for a hearing in the House and Senate today or it dies once again.
Jessica Fender, The Denver Post
