Property taxes - Rocky Mountain Voice

Follow the money: Why every Colorado taxpayer should check their county budget

2Jun

By External OutletNo Comments

Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Follow the money: Why every Colorado taxpayer should check their county budget

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Check your county’s budget I wanted to offer you an example and some encouragement about checking your county (or city) budget. For my example, I chose to focus in on my home county’s (Logan) Human Services budget. I’ll lead you through the process before looking at an interesting pattern I found. I started, and I recommend you start, by simply inquiring at your county (or through the commissioner’s office) for their budget archives. This was how I arrived at Logan’s archives, the first link at bottom. Budgets are big and complex. You need some way to wrangle the complexity down to size. One way to do that is to do what I did: pick a specific topic and stick to the summaries. You might look at salaries over t...

When “Protecting Seniors” Meets Fiscal Reality: A Self-Inflicted Crisis

31Mar

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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When “Protecting Seniors” Meets Fiscal Reality: A Self-Inflicted Crisis

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Any legislator who has opened their inbox lately has seen the urgent appeals: AARP warning that Colorado’s Senior Homestead Property Tax Exemption is under threat. The message is emotionally compelling—and fundamentally correct. Eliminating or weakening the exemption would amount to a tax increase on seniors, many of whom live on fixed incomes after decades of contributing to their communities. But what those emails don’t say is just as important as what they do. Because the current threat to the exemption did not emerge in a vacuum. It is the predictable result of a broader shift in Colorado’s fiscal philosophy—one that AARP itself has helped advance. A Record of Priorities—And Who Gets Left Behind If the curr...

Lawsuit Fallout Could Cost Turnberry Residents Millions In New Taxes

26Mar

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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Lawsuit Fallout Could Cost Turnberry Residents Millions In New Taxes

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette Homeowners of a small neighborhood in Commerce City remain confused and irate about the future of their property taxes in the aftermath of a lawsuit between the metropolitan district where they live and a bank. The conflict stems from a 2023 lawsuit in which UMB Bank in its capacity as trustee, alleged the BNC2 Metropolitan District No. 2 was improperly diverting property tax revenue for “administration and operations,” rather than paying back the bonds on which the property taxes were assessed. BNC2, a metro district of about 330 homes, oversees one-third of the Turnberry development. Other lawsuits between three metro districts alleged the administrator overseeing BNC2 at the time — and many other metro districts — took cont...

You can’t afford your government: The cost of Colorado’s “affordability” agenda

26Feb

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

You can’t afford your government: The cost of Colorado’s “affordability” agenda

By Dave Kerber | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Here we go again. Another crisis has materialized demanding our immediate attention and action. In the 2024 elections, Democrats took to lamenting the unaffordability of stuff in America to sweep to victory. Absent in those campaigns were any suggestions as to exactly how to make things “affordable” nor was there any mention that it was the Democrats with their massive post-COVID, Inflation Reduction Act spending that crammed money into the economy causing the rapid increase in inflation and economic unhappiness. Trump initially responded that affordability was a hoax, that the price of gas was down, and that little girls only needed two dolls not thirty-four. After being mocked by those who caused the crisis, he ...

Colorado Homeowners Face Property Tax Shock After Temporary Relief Expires

29Jan

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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Homeowners Face Property Tax Shock After Temporary Relief Expires

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Mike Fitz, 76, who lives in Centennial in a single-family home he has owned since 2001, paid $3,876.98 in property taxes to Arapahoe County two years ago. Fitz just learned after checking the website of the Arapahoe County Assessor’s Office that his 2026 tax bill has shot up to $5,435.47, and that already factors in a discount of $750 for the senior homestead exemption. That translates to an increase of nearly 30% or more than $1,500 over two years for the Colorado resident on a fixed income from a combination of Social Security payments and a pension from Gates Rubber. Indeed, the new year is bringing sticker shock to many Colorado homeowners like Fitz — property taxes are rising and some will see increases ranging from ...

Inside the Assessor’s Office: Why Greg Ketcham Is Running for Jefferson County Assessor

28Jan

By Shaina ColeNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Inside the Assessor’s Office: Why Greg Ketcham Is Running for Jefferson County Assessor

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice For most Jefferson County residents, the assessor’s office only becomes visible when a valuation notice arrives in the mail. For Greg Ketcham, the office has been his professional home for more than eight years — and it’s the reason he decided to run for Jefferson County Assessor. Ketcham currently works in the county assessor’s office and has experience in both residential and commercial appraisal. He also previously worked at Jefferson County Open Space, helping build park infrastructure throughout the county. He describes his career path not as political, but practical — rooted in county service and hands-on work. “I really liked it because you get to interact with everybody in our county,” Ketcham said of h...

Colorado families hit from every angle as taxes and fees outpace income growth

8Dec

By Shaina ColeNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado families hit from every angle as taxes and fees outpace income growth

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The latest analysis from the Common Sense Institute shows Denver-area households feeling a real financial squeeze, and it’s not just higher prices driving it. The report finds that since 2016, the typical household’s tax and fee load has jumped 48 percent while pre-tax income has grown only 27 percent. Inflation Has Hit Essentials Hardest CSI’s findings line up with what national inflation data has shown over the past few years. Prices climbed fastest from 2021 through 2023. According to the Consumer Price Index, the cumulative increase during that stretch was around 15.7 percent - compared with about 7.8 percent from 2016 to 2020. Families noticed it most in the basics. Grocery prices jumped as well. In 20...

Some thoughts worth considering before city folk vote on the “Vibrant Denver” bond

8Oct

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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Some thoughts worth considering before city folk vote on the “Vibrant Denver” bond

By Michael Whitcomb | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Denver Mayor and City Council are pushing the borrowing of $950 million—not including interest costs of up to $1 billion over the life of the loan—for a total cost approaching $2 billion. I and other interested residents are urging Denver not to take on any new debt, including this proposed bond issue, at this time. Here are a few reasons why. Before creating a $250 million budget deficit, the Mayor and Council had already cut services to taxpaying citizens while continuing to overspend. Now, faced with this deficit, further services and operations will be reduced. With this kind of undisciplined spending and lack of accountability, what prevents further budget problems—or a perpetual upward spiral of tax and fee increa...

From pulpits to school boards and special districts: A call for Christians to step up

24Sep

By Guest CommentaryNo Comments

Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

From pulpits to school boards and special districts: A call for Christians to step up

By Chuck O’Reilly | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Every decision about schools, taxes and local government touches the lives of families in the pews each week. When Christians disengage from civic life, we leave those decisions to others—and the results are visible in our classrooms, neighborhoods and property tax bills. I’m writing to encourage Christians that their values matter at the ballot box. When it comes time to vote, Christian values are needed at the polling place. Pastors and priests should urge their congregations to step forward as candidates in local elections, and groups like the Non Partisan Elections Committee stand ready to support those efforts. For years, charity in America was mainly carried out by churches. Help was given on a one-on-one basis, with...

Colorado Democrats push ‘progressive tax’ while low-income families already carry heavier burden

16Sep

By External OutletNo Comments

Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Democrats push ‘progressive tax’ while low-income families already carry heavier burden

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Progressive tax myths vs. reality. There's been a lot of noise about a bunch of progressive groups pushing a ballot measure to change our income tax structure from a flat tax (where all income brackets pay the same percentage) to a progressive one (where you pay more income tax as a percent and in absolute terms if you earn more).If you want an example article and some context, see the Sun article linked first below.I wanted to offer you a couple resources from a fiscally conservative (and frankly reality-based) perspective to counter what will likely be a blitz on the topic in the media and elsewhere. A couple resources to help you better advocate against this wrongheaded policy.There are two Complete Colorado op eds l...

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Tag: Property taxes

Follow the money: Why every Colorado taxpayer should check their county budget

When “Protecting Seniors” Meets Fiscal Reality: A Self-Inflicted Crisis

Lawsuit Fallout Could Cost Turnberry Residents Millions In New Taxes

You can’t afford your government: The cost of Colorado’s “affordability” agenda

Colorado Homeowners Face Property Tax Shock After Temporary Relief Expires

Inside the Assessor’s Office: Why Greg Ketcham Is Running for Jefferson County Assessor

Colorado families hit from every angle as taxes and fees outpace income growth

Some thoughts worth considering before city folk vote on the “Vibrant Denver” bond

From pulpits to school boards and special districts: A call for Christians to step up

Colorado Democrats push ‘progressive tax’ while low-income families already carry heavier burden

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