Tax freeze for school funds passes House
DENVER - Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposed property tax freeze for education made it through the House on Thursday after a bitter floor battle over whether or not it’s a tax increase.
SB199 received preliminary approval 32-29, with five Democrats opposing it and only one Republican backing it. The School Finance Act’s main purpose is to increase school funding by 4.6 percent next year, but almost all of the attention surrounding it has centered on the property tax freeze.
Under the plan, rates that have been falling will freeze at their current level in 133 school districts, generating another $50 million next year and $1.7 billion over the next 10 years. Rates will fall to a level of $27 per $1,000 of assessed value in the other 33 districts and then remain there.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, argued that 175 of the 178 school districts have voted to freeze rates but have not been allowed to do so because of a 13-year-old provision in state law. Passing this bill not only will bring in money to stabilize the State Education Fund, but it will also allow the state to follow the will of the people, he said.
“Every single district that would not get a tax cut in the future because of this has voted to not get a tax cut,” Pommer said. “They said: ‘We want to spend our money on schools.’”
Republicans argued vehemently, though, that because property owners will be forced to pay more over the next decade than they would if this bill does not become law, it should be considered a tax hike.
Several said Democrats were ramming this measure through without taking time to discuss options or to take a bigger-picture look at school financing.
“This approach is shortsighted, and it does not solve the problem,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma.
All eight Pikes Peak-area Republicans voted against the tax freeze. Democratic Rep. Mike Merrifield of Colorado Springs missed the vote while recovering from cancer treatment..
By freezing tax rates, the bill will allow school districts to raise some $50 million that otherwise would have to come from the state, allowing the Legislature to keep that money in a State Education Fund created in 2001. By stabilizing that fund and not allowing it to dry up as predicted in 2011, it will lessen the need for more general fund money to go toward education.
In addition, some new revenue will go to increasing funding for the 11 lowest-funded school districts, including four in the Pikes Peak area. Next year, Cañon City will receive an additional $551,000, Widefield $485,000, Falcon $227,000 and Cheyenne Mountain $160,000.
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