WEEK OF MAY 11, 2023
VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 38
FREE
County services may not Castle Rock be harmed by Polis property tax plan aims to take property over owner’s opposition BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
rise in homeowners’ property tax bills could decrease by double-digit percentages. The governor’s office provided an example scenario where a $600,000 home increased in value by 30% in the 2023 property valuation, which is based on June 2022 real-estate market values, compared to the 2021 valuation, which was based on June 2020 market values. Factoring in the recent property tax relief law known as state Senate Bill 22-238, that home would see a 24% increase in its property tax bill,
Castle Rock is taking legal action to acquire around 4 acres of private property needed to complete the Crystal Valley Interchange after the owner refused to accept an offer from the town. Town council members on May 2 authorized Castle Rock’s attorney to move forward with condemning the land so that the town can take ownership and complete the $120 million traffic project that will connect Interstate 25 and Crystal Valley Parkway. The town contacted the owners of the property on Crystal Valley Parkway, Hyperion Fund L.P., in November 2022 about purchasing the plot at fair-market value, as determined by an appraisal done at the town’s expense. However, two appraisals done on the property came to very different market values, with the town’s appraisal coming in around $816,000 and a separate appraisal done by Hyperion valuing the property closer to $1.2 million. Town attorney Michael Hyman said the town offered Hyperion Fund $816,228 for the land last month and didn’t receive a response until May 2, where Hyperion Fund objected to the sale.
SEE PLAN, P13
SEE PROPERTY, P5
Residents pay about $8.43 in tax to the district per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2023. BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
As pressure mounted on state lawmakers to intervene in Colorado’s expected spike in property tax bills, Douglas County officials worried that setting the cap too low could hurt funding for local government services. Politicians on the left and the right agreed that homeowners need relief as property taxes are expected to increase this year. Driven by a costly real-estate market, home values — as calculated for property tax purposes — have spiked since the last
time homeowners received notices of value two years ago. Since then, residential properties in the Denver metro area typically saw value increases between 35% and 45%, a group of county assessors from across the Front Range announced April 26. That rise threatens to take a big bite out of families’ finances because even when tax rates themselves aren’t increasing, the amount that homeowners owe increases as the value of homes rise. If a proposal from Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Democrats wins approval from voters this year, the
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