With the state of Colorado trying to fill a $1.4 billion deficit, the reduction on property taxes for senior citizens and disabled veterans could be on the chopping block.

Yet Gov. Jared Polis has proposed a bill that would continue to fund the reduction, the Homestead Exemption, by selling the state-owned workmen’s compensation insurance, Pinnacol Assurance, for $400 million.

The exemption affects 2,400 Teller County senior citizens and disabled veterans who take advantage of the exemption, estimated to be from $1 million to $1.5 million.

Last week, Teller County Assessor Kurt Schoenberger and Deputy Mike Akana gave a heads-up presentation in Cripple Creek and Woodland Park. The idea was to prepare residents who currently receive the exemption to be aware they might lose the benefit beginning in the tax year 2027.

“The exemption is available for seniors and their surviving spouses for 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value,” Schoenberger said. “So, the maximum exemption is $100,000 before property taxes are calculated.”

When the legislator approved the Homestead Exemption, the median price for a home was $250,000, Schoenberger said. “The median today in Colorado is $500,000.”

To qualify, seniors must be 65 on January 1 of the year of the application and have lived in the home, the primary residence, for 10 consecutive years.  

The state funds the exemption by reimbursing, through the Colorado treasurer, payments that would have gone to homeowners’ special districts, library, schools and fire, for instance. The refunds amount to $240 million a year.

The state plans to fund the exemptions for the next two years, based on converting Pinnacol Assurance to private, Schoenberger said.

“Pinnacol provides workmen’s comp insurance to a large portion of businesses in Colorado,” he said. “Pinnacol has a fund of $400 million on behalf of the business owners who pay into it.”

If the state sells Pinnacol, the governor has proposed funding the exemptions for the next two years while keeping the $160 million for the general fund, Schoenberger said.

“The problem is that the money has already been paid by business owners,” he added.  “Pinnacol would then have to raise rates through the roof to rebuild that $400 million.”

Schoenberger said he doesn’t care for the choice, pitting seniors and disabled veterans against business owners.

“We are watching that bill and if it hits, we will be very vocal about getting the word out as fast we can to oppose this,” he said.

However, to make the change, the legislature would have to pass the bill to adopt the change.

The governor’s office has said that the proposed bill would affect only business owners, said Carl Andersen, who owns Andersen Enterprises, speaking from the audience. “But it’s employees, too.  I have had Pinnacol for my employees for two decades. As a member of Pinnacol, I get a dividend every year based on what I’ve paid in. This will have a major impact on businesses.”

In the Cripple Creek presentation, a business owner said he may have to terminate full-time employees and instead, hire contractors who are not eligible for workmen’s comp insurance, Schoenberger said.

As a member of the state’s assessor’s association, Schoenberger says word has it that there is not a lot of support for the bill.

The kicker in the proposal, Schoenberger said, is that legislators realize that senior citizens and business owners vote.  “I doubt it will pass,” Andersen said.

The Greater Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce sponsored the presentation March 12 in the Ute Pass Cultural Center.