Otero County Votes to Support Litigation of Senate Bill 23-303 Proposition HH

Description: In the regular meeting of the Otero County Commissioners on July 10, 2023 the commissioners voted to approve the following resolution...

A RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT FOR ADVANCE COLORADO CHALLENGE TO SENATE BILL 23-303 PROPOSITION HH 

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 23-303 was hastily enacted by the General Assembly on the last day of the 2023 Legislative Session without adequate opportunity for debate, discussion and the public process that protects against ill-advised legislation becoming law; and 

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 23-303 was enacted without consultation with local governments and local elected officials; and 

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 23-303 purports to provide tax relief but in fact would eliminate or dramatically decrease future TABOR refunds thus increasing rather than decreasing the future costs and burdens on Colorado taxpayers; and 

WHEREAS, the language of the proposed ballot initiative is confusing, misleading and violates the requirement in Colorado law that such initiatives be limited to a single subject; and 

WHEREAS, Advance Colorado has initiated litigation to challenge Senate Bill 23- 303 and the referred ballot Proposition HH as not conforming to Colorado law pertaining to such ballot initiatives; and 

WHEREAS, had the General Assembly been sincere in its concerns about the impact to taxpayers resulting from the 2023 statewide real property valuation, the issues could have been discussed by all members of the General Assembly early in the session to elicit more reasonable, bi-partisan solutions than this surreptitiously drafted legislation, including the simple solution of skipping the 2023 property valuation process pending a long-range solution; and 

WHEREAS, Otero County cannot afford to lose any revenue from the reduction of property taxes and Otero County does not trust or believe that state revenues will be used to backfill some of the reduced property tax revenue; and 

WHEREAS, Section 6 of SB23-303 would establish a limit on specified property tax revenue for local governments, including Otero County, that is equal to inflation above the property tax revenue from the prior tax year that would restrict potential growth in Otero County; and 

WHEREAS, Otero County does not want any more unfunded mandates where Otero County is dependent and reliant on the State of Colorado for local government reimbursement as is anticipated in Section 24-77-203, C.R.S.; and 

WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Otero County desires to adopt a resolution documenting the concerns of the impact of Senate Bill 23-303 on the citizens of Otero County, Colorado. 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Otero, Colorado as follows: 

1. Otero County fully supports the litigation initiated by Advance Colorado to challenge this misleading and misguided legislation and ballot proposition. 

This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon approval by the Board of County Commissioners of Otero County, Colorado. 

Adopted this 10th day of July, 2023.

Follow SECO News on Facebook.

Subscribe to the SECO News YouTube Channel.

Share

Tweet

Follow SECO News on Facebook.
Subscribe to the SECO News YouTube Channel.