DENVER (KDVR) — A little more than a week after state lawmakers adjourned from a special session on property taxes, Gov. Jared Polis is asking local governments to take up the call.

Polis said state lawmakers did what they could to deliver immediate relief this year. He wants local governments to pass their own form of relief in a short amount of time.

“It’s time for them to look at what the state did and say, ‘Look, what can we do? Because we also live in our community. We also want our community to be affordable.’ They also pay property taxes,” Polis said of local government leaders.

Polis is asking local governments to continue the work the state did on property taxes.

In a letter, the governor called on local governments to reduce their mill levies and work on property tax relief at the local level. The letter comes a little a week after the governor signed a law to slightly reduce residential property taxes that are still slated to increase a bit.

“A property that paid $6,000 in property taxes this year, same property is slated to spend $9,000 next year,” Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas said. “Now what the governor and the legislature did was gave that property $300 worth of relief. So instead of $6,000, they are going to pay $8,700 because the governor and his friends thought a $300 reduction was good enough for them, and it is not.”

A new home under construction is seen, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in southeast Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Tax relief would have to come soon

The governor doubled down on his call by visiting Colorado Mountain College on Thursday, which as a special district temporarily reduced its mill levies.

Thomas said her county feels the state should have done more to ensure every Coloradan gets good relief no matter where they live.

“A taxpayer in one county might get huge relief from their government and another taxpayer in another county might just get a small piece, whereas the governor and the legislature would have had the ability to make a more fair and equitable process across the state,” Thomas said.

The clock is ticking for local governments to find their own solutions as this year is coming to a swift end.