The state Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday is scheduled to hear a bill aimed at helping landowners who were disallowed tax credits as part of the state’s conservation-easement program.
Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, sponsored Senate Bill 16-044, which would prohibit the Colorado Department of Revenue from contesting claims for conservation easement credits unless the easement’s appraiser was convicted of fraud in connection with the appraisal.
The bill, which would cover easements donated before Jan. 1, 2014, also would direct the state to refund taxes and penalties to property owners who previously had their claims denied.
Sonnenberg last fall led a public “fact-finding hearing” about Colorado’s conservation-easement program, which allows property owners to donate land to a nonprofit or government entity and receive in return tax credits that could be used or sold.
The program unraveled in 2007, after claims surfaced of excessively high appraisals and abuses.
As part of efforts to fix the program, credits were disallowed on 719 easement cases. Of those, 648 cases were settled and closed after an administrative hearing process.
Last year, Sterling residents Alan and Julia Gentz sued the Department of Revenue, challenging the $708,000 tax bill the state handed down in 2008 and the legality of the state’s binding administrative hearing process and pointing to years of red tape resolving grievances.
Gentz said he plans to address the Finance Committee during its scheduled 2 p.m. hearing.
“(The state has) violated law to try to claw back money from us,” Alan Gentz said. “To me, it’s extortion.”
Sonnenberg said landowners who did their due diligence eventually were jilted by the Department of Revenue, which he claims changed values on the appraisals and disregarded others without providing the landowners any means of recourse.
“This isn’t about whether or not you like or dislike conservation easements; this is about doing the right thing and honoring our contract with the people of Colorado,” he said.
As of Friday, the fiscal note for SB 16-044 had yet to be published.
Officials for the Department of Revenue and state attorney general’s office declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace
