The Colorado secretary of state’s office announced on Aug. 21 that Initiative 108, related to property taxes, qualified for the November ballot.
The initiative would redefine residential real property to include multifamily residential properties (excluding hotels and motels) and residential land and improvements. This would revert provisions of Senate Bill 238 (SB 238), which the legislature passed in 2023. SB 238 reclassified multifamily residential property as its own subclass with a different valuation rate (6.8% for 2024).
The initiative would set the assessment valuation for residential property, including multifamily properties, at 5.7%. The rate for non-residential property would be reduced from 29% to 24% of the actual value, applying to all taxable property except for residential real property producing mines and lands or leaseholds that produce oil or gas.
The initiative is sponsored by Advance Colorado Action, an issue advocacy organization that describes its mission as “supporting policies that increase economic opportunity and greater government transparency.” The group submitted 196,994 signatures for the initiative. To qualify for the ballot 124,238 valid signatures were required.
Advance Colorado Action also supports Initiative 50, certified in Oct. 2023. Initiative 50 would limit property tax revenue from increasing beyond 4% growth from the total statewide property tax revenue collected in the previous year. Statewide voter approval would be required to retain property tax revenue above the cap.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) called the legislature into a special session, set to begin on Aug. 26, to address property taxes. Sponsors of the initiatives agreed to withdraw the two ballot initiatives if legislation is passed to reduce property taxes and cap local government and school district tax revenue growth.
Polis said, “The cost of inaction is too high. We refuse to gamble with our schools, our economy, our future. Proposed ballot measures threaten to gut funding for K-12 and higher education, and Coloradans are counting on us to find a path forward that saves people money on property taxes while preserving these critical institutions.”
Advance Colorado President Michael Fields said, “This property tax cut and cap agreement provides the permanent tax relief that Coloradans have been demanding and will prevent future spikes in property tax bills going forward.”
According to The Colorado Sun, the initiatives would reduce tax revenue by $2.4 billion in tax year 2025. Under the proposed compromise legislation, tax revenues would be reduced by $769 million in 2025.
Legislation and withdrawal of the ballot measures would need to be finalized by Sept. 6 to meet deadlines for official ballot certification.
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