By Shannon Lukens.

 

A paid circulator group called Blitz Canvassing was in front of City Market in Steamboat Springs, getting signatures on Monday. The canvasser’s were asking people walking into the store, “Would you like to sign a petition to lower property taxes?” which is in reference to Initiative 50, to get it on the ballot in Nov. 2024.

Local legislators say it is a conservative group led by Michael Fields with Advance Colorado Action, trying to get a constitutional amendment to be on the ballot in Colorado. Ballotpedia quotes Fields as saying, “”Coloradans are facing a property tax crisis. Since the legislature has failed to act, citizens are moving this measure forward to allow the voters to decide if they want to cap property tax increases. While this measure won’t impact the spike in property taxes next year, it will have a significant impact in future years.”

It is in response to Proposition HH, according to an article from The Center Square, “Colorado signature drive starts for initiative to cap property tax revenue at 4%.”

Proposition HH will be on the Colorado Ballot this November, as approved by the State Legislature this past legislative session. Ballotpedia says this about Proposition HH:

A “yes” vote supports making various changes to state property taxes and revenue limits, including:

·         reducing property tax rates;

·         allowing the state to retain and spend revenues that it would otherwise be required to refund to residents under the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR);

·         creating a new, increased cap on state revenue, allowing the state to retain and spend additional revenue each year up to the Proposition HH Cap;

·         allocating revenue to local governments to make up for decreased property tax revenues; and

·         creating a limit on local government property tax revenue.

A “no” vote opposes making changes to property taxes and state revenue limits.

 

BallotPedia says Scott Wasserman with the Bell Policy Center is the opposition of Initiative 50, who says, “This is exactly the kind of a train wreck our state is trying to avoid, where there is a hard cap for the entire state’s property tax revenue.”

 

Routt County Commissioner Tim Corrigan explains what signatures for Initiative 50 to get it on the ballot would do, in his opinion.

 

“Any arbitrary hard cap on government revenues ignores factors like inflation and the critical services that need to be delivered for our citizens. Period. If you would like to stand in longer lines at Motor Vehicle to get your license renewed, if you don’t mind waiting an extra 15 or 20 minutes for emergency services to respond in an emergency, you should vote for this.”

 

City Market asked the canvassers, who are from Denver, to leave, since political campaigning is not allowed at the store. Eventually, Steamboat Springs Police officers came and the canvassers left.

 

The canvasser told us if they do have to leave, that they will just go to another City Market and keep getting signatures, which they said they have enough already. Ballotpedia says 124,238 valid signatures are needed by Aug. 5, 2024.

 

He also told Steamboat Radio News that it’s easy getting signatures in Steamboat Springs because, “everyone here is a Republican.” We fact checked this from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for 2023 Voter Registration Statistics. 

Voters by Party Status for Active Routt County voters as of July 2023 shows:

• Routt County Registered Democrats 5,398
• Routt County Registered Republicans 4,070
• Routt County Registered Unaffiliated voters 9,876

 

The canvassers said our local State Senator and Representative don’t know anything about this issue. We checked, and they do.

 

He said “Judge” Jena Griswold has approved the petition. We informed him that Griswold is the Colorado Secretary of State and not a judge.

Ballotpedia — Colorado Proposition HH, Property Tax Changes and Revenue Change Measure (2023)

Ballotpedia — Colorado Voter Approval to Retain Property Tax Revenue Initiative (2024)

Article from Colorado Politics —   Record number of Coloradans protest soaring property tax valuations