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FIRST QUARTER
SUPERHEROES DROP BY Economy shrinks 0.3% in U.S. Drop reversed 2.4% gain at end of 2024 By Paul Wiseman and Christopher Rugaber The Associated Press
HYOUNG CHANG — THE DENVER POST
A patient waves as Justin Ruisi, dressed as Iron Man, rappels down the side of a building at Children’s Hospital Colorado South Campus in Highlands Ranch on Wednesday. Members of the Douglas County Regional SWAT team rappelled from the rooftop of the hospital dressed as superheroes to surprise patients, families and workers.
FROM THE EDITOR
METRO DENVER
Changes come in our features sections
Homeowners can exhale after 14 years of rising home values
Starting today, we are making some changes to our Life & Culture pages, where you find stories about the arts and the outdoors and other lifestyle features. On Wednesdays and Sundays, you will still find Life & Culture sections with all the stories you’re accustomed to seeing. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the comics, puzzles and advice column will be in our sports section, just as they are on Mondays and Tuesdays. The TV grid will appear consistently at the back of the B section. Life & Culture stories that you are accustomed to seeing during the week, like movie reviews, will be in the Sunday paper. And our great staff-written stories will appear throughout the paper — on the front page, in Denver & the West, in business and in sports. The change allows us to direct more attention to our popular premium sections like Summer Getaways, our yearly Broncos preview and our Year in Photos. You’ll see more of those sections with a strong Colorado focus and packed with information that we hope you will want to peruse like you would a magazine. Look for our Home on the Range special section filled with stories on food, drink and more in late June. And to our loyal New York Times puzzlers, we apologize for the recent problems with missing clues and answers not appearing where you expect them. Our solution is to run two answer boxes — one for that day’s puzzle and one for the previous day. — Lee Ann Colacioppo, Editor INDEX
Business...... A7-9
Flat assessments could usher in lower property taxes for many, but not all
Comics..... B10-12
Lottery.............A2
GDP » PAGE 6
DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Board talks on Marrero contract questioned
By Aldo Svaldi asvaldi@denverpost.com
Homeowners across metro Denver finally should receive a reprieve from property tax increases in the next two years after county assessors reported mostly flat to declining residential property values. “This is a bit of a sigh of relief,” said Denver County Assessor Keith Erffmeyer, as he exhaled after a news conference Wednesday morning. Property owners, who have had to deal with 14 straight years of rising valuations and property tax bills, including a historic jump two years ago of 30% or higher in many places, now can breathe easier. And county assessors and their staffers, who faced a flood of angry calls and fielded double the number of protests than usual from upset property owners two years ago, can bask in a more manageable pace as they hum “The Sound of Silence.” Every two years, assessors in Colorado must deter-
The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in three years, as President Donald Trump’s trade wars disrupted business. First-quarter growth was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the United States tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump imposed massive tariffs. The January-March drop in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — reversed a 2.4% gain in the last three months of 2024. Imports grew at a 41% pace, fastest since 2020, and shaved 5 percentage points off first-quarter growth. Consumer spending also slowed sharply — to 1.8% growth from 4% in October-December last year. Federal government spending plunged 5.1% in the first quarter.
HELEN H. RICHARDSON — THE DENVER POST
Home values in metro Denver were mostly down or flat over the past two years, according to county assessors, which should bring many owners relief on their property taxes. This photo was taken from Sterling Ranch in Douglas County, looking toward downtown Denver. mine a value for residential and commercial properties, and that number goes into the formula used to determine property taxes. Properties were valued as of June 30, 2024, using transactions going back 24 months. In Denver County, with 240,000 residential properties, valuations declined an average of 1.6%, with most properties falling within a range of down 5% to up 5%, Erffmeyer said. That contrasts with a 33% average gain in the prior two-year cycle. The biggest declines were concentrated along the I-25
Obituaries.......A12
Sports............B1-7
By Jessica Seaman jseaman@denverpost.com
corridor and in neighborhoods closer to downtown. Athmar Park was down 8.7%, Clayton and College View fell about 7.5%, North Capitol Hill was down 7.3%, while values fell 6.99% in nearby Civic Center. Cherry Creek values were up 11.7% on average, while the Belcaro neighborhood to the south saw an increase of 7%. Neighborhoods such as Union Station, up 14.2%, and Denver International Airport, up nearly 25%, had larger gains, but new construction, not a newfound popularity, skewed much of
The Denver school board is in talks with Superintendent Alex Marrero to extend his contract, a move members said is necessary for consistent leadership during a precarious time for K-12 education — but which has sparked criticism from others over a lack of transparency. The discussions, which so far have taken place behind closed doors, will be brought into public view when Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education meets this afternoon. Few details have been revealed about the changes proposed for Marrero’s contract beyond a potential extension, but school board members are expected to consider removing the superintendent’s ability to receive a bonus — a decision Marrero favors.
VALUES » PAGE 5
CONTRACT » PAGE 5
TV Guide..........B9
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