It isn’t every day that the governor calls the legislature back into a Special Session. In fact, there have only been five in the last twenty years. Pandemics, water infrastructure, civil unions and even immigration were all deemed so pressing that lawmakers reconvened. Even more rare was to see the governor reassemble our 100 lawmakers at a cost of $24,328 per day, immediately before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Yet, today’s impending 40% property tax increase demanded immediate action after Proposition HH failed.

Housing is the largest expense in most of our lives and the legislature acted quickly to flatten steep residential property tax increases and provide other forms of assistance to renters. Problem solved? Only partially.

Property taxes aren’t so simple. There are several major property tax levers government can pull — assessment rates and mill levies being two major examples. Within that equation, the state legislature really could only address the assessment rates. Why? Because our voters have empowered our local governments to raise mill levies.

Local governments and special taxing districts are at the heart of many critical services in Colorado. As a local control state, we depend on our independent government taxation districts to provide everything from fire protection and K-12 education to recreation facilities and libraries. These are the critical civic infrastructure, services and amenities that citizens have voted to fund through taxes on their hard-earned resources.

Special taxing districts generally operate within the restraints of their voter-approved tax rates which typically rise slowly. These are not standard times. With the enormous statewide rise in property values, many local taxing districts will see windfall revenues this coming year.

To be fair, certain expenses for these government taxing districts have increased faster than inflation. The costs of labor, goods and materials are rising rapidly. But 40% higher? Not likely. Did revenues for our residents and local businesses rise sufficiently to cover a 40% property tax increase? Not likely. That is why the Boulder Chamber calls for immediate action by our government taxing districts for a level set in their mill levy rates.

The Special Session lowered assessment rates for homeowners from 6.765% to 6.7% in 2023. However, most businesses saw their rates go from 27.9% to … wait for it. 27.9%. No change. While some see businesses as a monolith of greedy fat cats, the vast majority of all businesses in Colorado are small businesses. Women-owned businesses comprise 44.7% of that marketplace and 19.3% are minority-owned. COVID hit those businesses hard, with 10,000 closing their doors during that time and many still struggling to recover.

If our local governments and special taxing districts are the heart of our critical services, it’s our small businesses that are the lifeblood. They also provide services we cherish, let alone a large percentage of our sales tax base. Rather than assume our beleaguered businesses — including thousands of mom-and-pop shops — can withstand another major hit to their bottom lines, consider the impact on their precarious livelihood, our community character and the golden goose that funds our infrastructure and amenities.

Our local taxing districts can act. The governor has called on them to temporarily lower their mill levies to minimize the shock to our system and has ordered the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to assist in this process. Douglas County (pending legal action) has already lowered some property valuations by 4%. State law now allows local governments to lower mills without long-term negative TABOR implications.

We are calling on our school districts, county, library district and other local government entities to meet this challenge in time for our businesses and residents to realize some relief.

Too often we take for granted what we have. During the pandemic, my heart sank when we lost places like Boulder Beer Company, Zolo’s and The Med. They weren’t just sources of tax revenue; they were places where owners invested their dreams and customers found community. For every gathering place that closed their doors, dozens of other small businesses went belly up. We must do what we can, while maintaining critical services and infrastructure, to avoid similar tragic losses.

It’s your move, local government.

Jonathan Singer is the senior director of Policy Programs at the Boulder Chamber.