Gilpin County Property Tax Limit Waiver and Revenue Retention

Gilpin County returns revenue above its TABOR limit as a temporary credit on property tax bills. The county lists credits of $685,562 for 2024, $510,314 for 2025 and $318,702 for 2026. By the county's figures, residential owners received about 22% of the 2026 credit, about $70,114, and most of it went to commercial owners, including casinos. The average residential credit on taxes payable in 2026 was an estimated $20 a parcel. Without the measure, the county estimates an average of about $13 a residential parcel for 2027, a figure it says could be much less. Staff estimate future refunds could range from roughly $100,000 to $200,000 a year, depending on revenues, property values, economic conditions and TABOR calculations.

The first clause of Issue 1A waives the state's 5.25% limit on county property tax revenue for this tax year and every later one. As House Bill 24B-1001 set it, the limit starts with a county's highest earlier collection of qualified property tax revenue, adds 5.25% for each year of a reassessment cycle, and includes an adjustment for revenue the county could have kept under the limit but did not. For the same years, the second clause lets the county collect, keep and spend all revenue from any source, naming property taxes and gaming revenue, without limit under TABOR or any other revenue or spending limit. The authority adds to earlier voter approvals to keep or spend revenue and limits none of them. The county says it is already partly exempt from the TABOR limit for gaming revenue.

Resolution 26-077 finds that approval raises no existing tax rate or mill levy, and the county says tax increases that need voter approval under TABOR still go to voters. After a yes vote, bills lose the TABOR credit, and the county says owners could pay more than they would with a refund. After a no vote, the county generally continues to refund revenue above the TABOR limit.

The question says all of that revenue, from every source, is to be spent, transferred, reserved or used for core infrastructure and maintenance, including roads, bridges, and wildfire and flood mitigation. The ballot question names those uses; the resolution's recitals speak more broadly of lawful governmental purposes.

When County Manager Ray Rears brought the draft question on July 28, Commissioners Susan Berumen and Sandy Hollingsworth asked for more discussion of uses such as road and infrastructure maintenance and fire mitigation. The board held a community meeting on Aug. 4 and adopted the resolution 3 to 0 on Aug. 25.

At a March work session, Rears showed rising demand for dispatch calls, the detention center and road maintenance. His data showed gaming revenue plateauing in recent years, with no significant increase expected in the near term. The county says its budget is 26% reliant on outside grants and that retention may make some grants easier to pursue.