A Colorado Fire Department says another state tax cut could cost the safety of residents

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The Cimarron Hills Fire Department today said if they are included in the property tax reductions being negotiated this week- they may have to cut staff.

Gov. Jared Polis called for a special session on Monday to discuss a property tax cut that could save over a billion dollars for Coloradans. But he says he doesn’t want to be at the expense of the school system.

“I’m hopeful, I am always supportive of property tax relief. There is an opportunity here to provide some prop property tax relief for every homeowner in the state at the same time, we can reduce the risk going forward. I have several different kind of ballot initiatives. It seems like every year we have different ballad initiative. They can threaten school funding and planning,” said Gov. Polis.

The Cimarron Hills Fire Department says they also want to be exempt from those tax cuts and maintain their funding.

“Those impacts are already devastating enough, but we think that moving forward we’re able to sustain under those we’re just asking for no further cuts. So the cuts that were made in (Senate Bill) 233 we aren’t going to have to cut any stuff, but it doesn’t look like we’re gonna have the ability to add any additional staff either,” said Cimarron Hills Fire Chief, Andrew York.

The Fire Chief said that for 1 in every 3 calls they get, they have simultaneous emergent calls and want to ensure they have the proper staffing to respond to people at risk.

“There’s going to be a very real impact to the public and what we said to the legislators and I know it’s gonna sound abrasive, but the bottom line is that houses could burn down and lives could be lost,” said Fire Chief York.

The special session is between Advance Colorado, Colorado Concern and state legislative leaders to negotiate a tax cut without enacting Initiatives 50 and 108. Those measures, if passed, would cap property tax revenue per year and reduce the assessment rates when considering the property values.

Allegedly there has been an agreement between the groups that would

• Cut the effective residential property tax rate to 6.3 or 6.4 percent depending on assessment growth; 
• Cut the commercial property tax rate to 25 percent; 
• Implement a property tax cap of 5.25 percent for local governments and 6 percent or inflation growth (whichever is greater) for school districts.  
• Ensure clear and non-biased ballot language in the required vote of the people to opt out of the local cap.  

The session will be held this week until Wednesday.

For more information on the session, click here.

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