LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor: Obviously we are all reeling from the upcoming increase in property taxes.

It is an unfortunate byproduct of living in a desirable area. Proposition HH failed because, among other reasons, it was far too complex and created a new layer of bureaucracy to administer it.

If lawmakers were really interested in property tax relief, they could do it in a one-sentence bill. “In any given year, property taxes cannot be increased more than 15% from the prior year.”

One and done. Another approach might be that “in any given year, property taxes cannot be increased more than 5% over the Consumer Price Index percentage of the prior year.”

I realize that property taxes do need to rise due inflation because the cost of everything the taxing districts purchase is going up. But we have a distortion here in Ouray County because property values have increased disproportionately in comparison to the general rate of inflation.

Austin Ray Ridgway