SUPERIOR, Colo. (KDVR) — The Town of Superior is pleading with Colorado lawmakers for tax relief as Marshall Fire victims work to rebuild a year later.
A birds-eye view over Superior, captured by SkyFOX on Tuesday, shows foundations emerging from a neighborhood reduced to ashes. From Mayor Mark Lacis’ vantage point, he sees financial hurdles coupled with this latest progress.
“The cost of inflation and building materials and interest rates, it’s just so much more difficult for people to rebuild,” Lacis said. “Particularly, given the fact that there’s so many people that are under-insured and they’re not getting paid out what they actually thought that they should get paid out to actually be able to rebuild.”
Superior asks for state, RTD tax relief
In an effort to ease the financial burden on residents trying to rebuild, Lacis said Superior waived the town’s use taxes that would have been part of rebuilding costs.
“We’ve issued $1.4 million worth of rebates for building permit fees and use tax rebates and that’s been a really big point of contention right now at the state level,” Lacis said.
In a recent letter to Gov. Jared Polis and the state legislature, Lacis and other Superior officials are asking for relief on state and RTD use taxes as well. The letter estimates eliminating these two use taxes could save each household around $10,000.
Last year, the General Assembly rejected an amendment that would have waived these taxes.
“For the state not to follow suit, it just seems shortsighted, and it just seems like the right thing to do,” Lacis said. “Every dollar that we can save is $1 less that they need to spend on rebuilding.”
The letter states that, if not waived, the state will receive nearly $9 million in unbudgeted revenue on the homes being rebuilt and RTD will receive approximately $3 million. It goes on to say RTD leadership is supporting the ask to waive these fees but needs state action to make sure.
Polis’ office told FOX31 they’ll review the letter. A spokesperson shared the following in a statement:
The Governor’s position remains consistent. The Governor strongly supports tax relief for victims of the Marshall Fire. The Governor welcomes the state legislature to continue to work on suspending taxes for fire victims either through an interim committee or in legislative sessions. The Governor in partnership with the legislature appropriated millions of dollars in funding towards rebuilding for fire in addition to creating the Office of Climate Preparedness to help address future challenges. The Governor also supported SB22- 206 which included roughly $35 million in additional rebuilding aid to support coverage of potential unmet needs, and to support quality in rebuilding. Governor Polis and the administration assisted community members by immediately seeking a federal disaster declaration, declaring a state disaster emergency, deploying the Colorado National Guard, and directing the state to help connect victims of the disaster with financial aid and unemployment assistance.”
Spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis
When asked about the letter, Senate President Stephen Fenberg shared the following statement:
In recent years, Colorado has experienced a number of devastating wildfires, causing tens of millions of dollars in property damage and wreaking havoc on entire communities, and we can expect more in our future. The state has a duty to be thoughtful in our recovery efforts to make sure we’re able to offer long term, sustainable relief when these disasters occur, which is why we worked hard last year to secure millions of dollars of relief for victims of the Marshall Fire. Supporting impacted families continues to be a top concern of mine, and I’m open to exploring different avenues for providing additional relief. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to find solutions to help make lives whole again.
Senate President Stephen Fenberg