Governor Polis,
We thank you for your recent letter acknowledging how difficult it has become for families to make ends meet in Colorado, and for inserting the state into local matters. El Paso County Commissioners remained focused on providing exceptional services to our constituents. Out-of-control government spending and the resulting inflation have contributed to historic property assessment increases. With the same inflation driving up groceries, gas, and other necessities, we have continually asked our state legislature to help keep rising costs at bay by not passing any more expensive, unfunded mandates, not adding more burdensome regulations that drive up the cost of goods and services, and of course by halting the ever-growing, staggering number of fees enacted by the legislature in the last few years. Sadly, you have continued to sign laws that did precisely those things.
Voters were told that if they repealed the Gallagher cap on property taxes, a better plan would be put in place. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Voters saw right through the Prop HH scheme, seeing it for the TABOR raid and dishonest ploy that it was, and rejected it. Even after the special session where the majority party ignored the will of the voters and passed a repackaged version of HH, as Representative Epps acknowledged on the House floor, we know that Coloradans are still looking for meaningful relief from the steep increases, the relief they did not get at the hands of our Democrat-run legislature.
Fortunately for El Paso County residents, their county commissioners still abide by our local TABOR cap, specifically in place to keep government budgets from growing too quickly and to protect residents from bloat and waste. As such, El Paso County has been planning to reduce our mills for months, resulting in approximately a 20% decrease to provide relief for our residents. El Paso County already had a solution to keep taxes low for our residents long before Prop HH, and long before the failed special session. Perhaps you were unaware of how TABOR is helping El Paso County residents because you haven’t had the chance to dive into how local governments really operate, or it could be that your letter was more of a political move to distract from the several failures on this issue.
Regardless of the catalyst, we would like to renew our ask that you and your teammates in the legislature stop trying to pass down unfunded mandates to local governments. Not only does state statute specifically and rightly reject unfunded mandates, but it is also frustrating that you continue to sign bills into law that attempt to force local governments to spend more to fund a fringe agenda while asking us publicly to find a way to spend less.
In short, please stop saying one thing to the public while doing the opposite. We also renew our request to stop creating burdensome and expensive regulations and stop increasing fees so that Coloradans can get relief from the high cost of living in Colorado.
Yes, as you stated, we can make a difference in our state when we work together. However, that means engaging in meaningful stakeholder discussions with El Paso County, who is a leader in providing exceptional cost-effective services while respecting TABOR and the will of the voters.
Sincerely,
El Paso Board of County Commissioners
