Bills to bring property tax savings await Governor’s signature after special session ends
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) - Two bills to further lower property taxes and alter tax rates, are on their way to the governor's desk to bring much-needed relief to Coloradans.
HB 24B-1001 and HB 24B-1003 both passed after days of deliberation in a special session in the capitol. This was the second special session held within the last year to address skyrocketing property taxes.
The special session looked to build off of a bill passed in May of this year, on the final day of the 2024 Legislative Session. That bill knocked over 50,000 dollars off of residential property values, before they get assessed to save homeowners hundreds, and also changed property tax rates for schools into a different bracket than residences. You can read a breakdown of that bill, here.
The Governor's office tells KRDO13 that thanks to the combined efforts of the bills passed in May and the Special Session, El Paso County homeowners can expect to save will save an average of $143 in the 2025 year, and about $160 dollars in 2026. Those savings were calculated using the median home price in El Paso County, which was listed as $514,820.
A press release from the Governor's office also stated, among other populous counties in Colorado, that Pueblo County residents will see an average property tax savings of $173 dollars in 2025, and over $196 dollars in 2026. Those savings were calculated using the median home price in Pueblo County, which was listed at $326,260.
Other good news for southern Colorado residents is that per the state, the energy companies Xcel, Black Hills and Tri-State, will have to pass on their property tax savings to their customers. The state says that will save each household about $20 dollars per year, over the next five years.
"There was a huge amount of bipartisan consensus that this bill, that we considered was the right thing to do in the Senate. It was a 30 to 4 vote, which is, you know, pretty rare for these types of big issues, and so I think there was a great bipartisan work that was done here." stated Democrat Senator Chris Hansen, from Denver County.
Hansen stated the work accomplished through the bills this year, set a great framework for the future to have a more stable fix to the conversation around property taxes.
"As Republicans, we would have always looked for additional, maybe some broader, property tax cuts, but I think in the end we wound up in a good compromise position, and we were able to get additional relief for the people of Colorado." said Republican Representative Rose Pugliese from El Paso County.
The two bills will be signed by Governor Jared Polis, once the Initiative 108 and Proposition 50 ballot measures, which were aimed at altering property taxes in various ways, are removed from the ballot by the state legislature.
The special session sought to replace the ballot measures, with a more permanent and calculated solution, that didn't also impact key services in local governments that are funded through property taxes.
"Proposition 50, Initiative 108 would have led to multibillion dollar cuts to state services and to higher ed and K-12 [schools]. And so that's really, I think, the main reason why we came back to continue our work." said Hansen.
