Thomas concerned Prop. HH will impact county budget

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

One of Douglas County’s elected leaders is sounding the alarm about the potential impact of Proposition HH, a proposal Colorado voters may see on their ballots in November. e proposition was pushed by state Democrats in response to a wave of impending property tax bill hikes.

Among other things, the Democrats’ plan, according to the governor’s o ce, would cap the growth in local governments’ property tax collections, excluding school districts, based on in ation.

“ ere is a paragraph in this (plan) that caps county revenue at the in ation rate of 2022, which was 8%,” Commissioner Lora omas said during a Douglas County town hall on June 28.

e problem: State Senate Bill 23-303 requires county revenue to start where it last left o , according to omas.

Because Douglas County approved a $10 million tax — or mill levy — credit for 2023, Douglas County revenue would be starting at essentially a de cit if voters were to approve Prop HH, omas said. (Prop HH was proposed by the state legislature’s passing of SB23303.)

“We are going to have to start our calculation of the increase in in ation minus that $10 million, and that means Douglas County is actually starting (at) a $7 million” de cit,” omas said.

In that scenario, the county would face cutting $7 million from its current budget for 2024, according to omas.

Douglas County’s expenditures in its 2023 budget totaled $580 million, according to the county’s adopted budget document.

If the county doesn’t see enough revenue come in, it would have to

“lay people o ,” omas said at a June 13 speaking event in Highlands Ranch.

Leaders can opt out of limit omas later clari ed to Colorado Community Media that “there are di erent ways that we can reduce our costs without laying o

“ ere’s various mechanisms that we can use — it’s not just going to be by laying o people,” said omas, adding that in the past, the county has put together “packages” so people can take early retirement.

At the June 28 event, omas said the county could look at “some spending programs, some early retirement programs or some reduction in manpower” to address the

But even if voters were to approve Prop HH, local governments aren’t bound to abide by the revenue limits in the plan. e county could opt out of the limit and bring its revenue up closer to its current planned budget for 2024.

“ ere is a provision that would allow the commissioners to hold a meeting, explain to the public why this 8% increase was not enough for us and that we were going to increase the amount of revenue that the county was going to bring in,” omas said.

But “as one commissioner, I can assure you that this time of year, (with) what’s going on, I will not vote to increase the property taxes,” she added.

Prop. HH and TABOR

Home values — as calculated for property tax purposes — have spiked since the last time homeowners

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