El Paso County commissioners on Friday, Dec. 8 announced a planned temporary reduction to the county property tax rate, an effort officials said will provide residents millions of dollars in “tangible relief” from increased property taxes next year.

The Board of El Paso County Commissioners expects to vote Jan. 9 to cap the county’s 2023 property tax rate for taxes payable in 2024, called a mill levy, at 7.041 mills. This proposed tax rate is down from the current 7.732 mills.

The credit will reduce county property taxes by a collective $20.5 million, or nearly 20%, Commissioners Carrie Geitner, Stan VanderWerf and Longinos Gonzalez said during an afternoon news conference.

The property tax rate reduction will apply to all

privately-owned properties, they said.

VanderWerf called the county property tax cap “essential” because many residents have been “hit pretty hard” by increasing property tax assessments.

“They need that relief,” he said.

Commissioners said though the county’s action to reduce its mill levy comes after changes the Colorado Legislature recently made during a special session to provide property tax relief, El Paso County had always planned to cap its property tax rate.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, restricts the amount of overall property tax revenues local governments can collect each year, using a formula based on population growth.

The county’s longstanding practice has been to reduce its property tax rate instead of collecting revenues over the TABOR limit, commissioners said. Governments must either refund excess revenues back to taxpayers or obtain voter approval to allow the government to retain them.

“Our residents were always going to get that reduction thanks to that TABOR cap,” Geitner said.

The Colorado Springs City Council on Nov. 28 similarly voted to limit the city’s 2024 property tax rate to stay within TABOR limits, a credit Chief Financial Officer Charae McDaniel expects will total about $6.2 million next year.

County commissioners said Friday the county sized its property tax credit so it is estimated to collect only what El Paso County can retain under TABOR. Revenues expected to be over that cap are provided back to taxpayers through the credit.

Late last week Gov. Jared Polis asked local governments to reduce their property tax rates to offer more relief to homeowners. Colorado legislators recently adopted in a special session new laws that reduce the assessment ratio and increase the amount homeowners can claim for exemption when calculating tax liability.

The state reduction covers only residential properties.

Gonzalez said Friday Polis’ ask of local governments was “insulting to the public and misleading to the public.”

“He’s taking credit for something we — that most governments — were already going to do,” Gonzalez said.

In a written statement Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman said, in part, the state’s “tax cut will also benefit El Paso County residents on top of the actions of commissioners.” Nu

The new state legislation subtracts $55,000 per home from state property tax valuation and reduces the residential assessment rate to 6.7%, down from 6.765%. For a $500,000 home, state officials expect the savings will be on average $505 in 2023 property tax bills.

El Paso County homeowners living in a $400,000 home can expect to pay $163 in county property taxes next year. For a $500,000 home, that amount is expected to be $210.

Similarly, for county homeowners who live in Colorado Springs, those living in a $400,000 home can expect to pay $83 in city property taxes next year. For a $500,000 home, that amount is expected to be $107 in city property taxes.

Residential property owners can calculate their residential assessed value by taking the actual value of their home, subtracting $55,000, and multiplying that number by .067.

To calculate property taxes, multiply the assessed value by the overall mill levy rate, which should first be divided by 1,000.

Overall mill levy rates include those from all taxing authorities including cities, counties, school districts and special districts, which set tax rates and levy the tax on a property.

El Paso County property owners can find their property’s market value and all of the respective taxing entities on the county assessor’s website at property.spatialest. com/co/elpaso.

Once the property is located on the website, scroll down the page to the “Tax Entity and Levy Information” section, which provides all the taxing entities and their levies for that specific property.

The Board of El Paso County Commissioners is scheduled to formally establish the new county property tax rate next month when the board adopts the 2024 county budget. Commissioners were originally scheduled to vote on the spending plan Dec. 5, but that date was pushed back due to the recent changes made by the Colorado Legislature.

El Paso County finance officials estimate the county will collect $83.4 million in property tax revenues in 2024.

Property taxes fund public schools, county and municipal governments, libraries and special districts.