Mill, Whitford Win Appeal for Colorado Board of Education – Supreme Court Upholds 2007 Mill Levy

March 16, 2009 - The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) received an important win today as the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a 2007 state freeze on property tax rates for schools. The court ruled 6-1 that the mill-levy freeze does not violate the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, an amendment to Colorado's constitution designed to limit taxes and spending. The property tax law freezes tax rates in some school districts where they had been expected to decline. The mill-levy freeze, enacted by the Colorado General Assembly and Governor Ritter, is expected to raise $1.7 billion over 11 years.

Sherman & Howard's John Mill and Angie Whitford represented the Colorado Department of Education in the trial court and in the appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court. The Department, and the State of Colorado and Governor Bill Ritter, were defendants in the case.

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