Face The State Staff Report
Voters from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District are accusing Pamela Jo Suckla, chairwoman of the state Board of Education, of not representing their best interests after her recent refusal to take a public stand against Gov. Bill Ritter’s appeal of a Denver District Court Judge’s ruling that a mill levy freeze amounts to an unconstitutional tax increase.
SucklaState of Colo.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the board, and without the support of Suckla, a Republican, Democrats would not have had the authority to move forward with the appeal. Previously, an open records request in April revealed that Suckla was denying the Board an opportunity to vote publicly about whether to defend the mill levy lawsuit, leaving insiders to believe that she supported it. Vice Chairman Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins, and Peggy Littleton, R-Colorado Springs, are the only two board members to have publicly opposed the lawsuit and Ritter’s appeal. Both have advocated for a public vote on the matter.
“Bob and I are the only ones willing to stand up for the taxpayers,” said Littleton.
Mesa County Commissioners and aggrieved property owners originally brought the lawsuit against the state Board, arguing that the freeze was an unconstitutional tax increase because it generated additional tax revenue for the state. Under Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, any tax increase requires a vote of the people. Ritter voluntarily intervened in the case, and after Judge Christina Habas handed down her decision, he announced his intent to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Suckla represents CD 3, which includes much of Western and Southern Colorado. Ritter's mill levy tax increase, pushed by Democrat state lawmakers, will cost her constituents nearly $30.8 million, with Mesa County bearing $8.7 million of the increase. The increase also hits Suckla close to home. Her cattle ranch covers San Miguel, Dolores and Montezuma Counties, where the mill levy tax increase has already generated more than $2 million. Statewide the mill levy tax increase has resulted in $118 million of extra revenue. Over the next ten years that number is expected to reach almost $3.4 billion.
“[Suckla] is not representing the 3rd Congressional District very well,” said Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland. “As a Republican and fiscal conservative I am very surprised that she is not upholding the intent of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.”
Evan Gluckman, a leading plaintiff in the case and owner of the Main Street Café in Grand Junction, expressed outrage over the board's decision to join the appeal. “If [Suckla] could show me where in [the bill] it say this money is specific for education then I’d support her decision," he said. He has seen his property taxes go up by almost $1,000 this year because of the mill levy freeze. Though the mill levy freeze was incorporated into the 2007 School Finance Act, none of the extra revenue was specially earmarked for education. Consequently, the money could be used on any number of public programs.
“I don’t know why Republicans are standing behind this," Gluckman added. "Can’t they stand up for what they believe?”
Marcia Neal, the Republican candidate vying to replace the retiring Suckla testified against the mill levy tax increase. She said voters approved "de-Brucing," a term referring to Doug Bruce the author of TABOR, so the school could accept grants, and now Ritter is using that vote as an excuse to raise taxes.
“I supported Bob and Peggy’s decision,” Neal said. “If I had been on the board I would have also supported a public vote.” If Neal is elected she will be the only teacher to sit on the SBOE.
Prior to the Board’s decision to join Ritter's appeal, Littleton and fellow Board Member Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, were speculating that the vote would be made long party lines. Suckla did not return several requests for an interview.