Topic: The Gallagher Amendment was referred to Colorado voters by the legislature in 1982 in response to voters’ concerns about rising residential property taxes as a result of the state’s rapid population growth in the 1970’s. At that time, residential property in Colorado made up about 45% of total property value in the state, with other classes of property such as commercial property, agriculture land, vacant land, industrial property and public utilities making up the other 55%. The Gallagher Amendment proposed to freeze that ratio of the total value of residential property (45%) to the total value of non-residential property (55%) forever. Colorado voters adopted the Gallagher Amendment in 1982. Today residential property makes up 80% of total assessed property value statewide. What is the Gallagher Amendment Repeal ballot measure (Amendment B), and what does it mean for schools, agriculture, local business, and development patterns in Southwest Colorado?

Speaker: Reeves Brown is an independent public policy consultant and Project Coordinator for the “Building a Better Colorado” project. Reeves served on Governor John Hickenlooper’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) from 2011-2015. As Director of DOLA, Reeves led the Department’s 170 employees in providing technical assistance on all aspects of local government administration, housing solutions, and property tax administration.

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