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Re-Elect
Erik Stone
for Teller County Commissioner
Experienced Leadership
A Champion for Teller County!
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THE BUZZ
October 10, 2023
Stone Announces For Re-Election Bid for County Commissioner
Woodland Park, CO -
Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone announced his re-election campaign on Tuesday night at the local Teller County Republicans Central Committee meeting in Divide.
Stone said in his announcement that when he initially ran for office, "Commissioners are going to have to do more to protect the treasured quality of life that we all enjoy here in Teller County. We have built a commissioner team and an elected official team unlike any other in Teller County history and we are making a huge impact at the legislature and we are getting wins".
Stone highlighted work to author and work with Senator Mark Baisley to pass Senate Bill 23-108, which he said clarifies the authority of the county to grant significant property tax relief in Teller County in 2024. "Using our authority as county commissioners, we will be returning over $2 million in property tax back to the property owners in the county in 2024", Stone said.
Stone, the commissioner representing District 3 from Woodland Park, also spoke to his and the commissioners' strong support for law enforcement and Public Works within the county, citing the recently-approved increase in Sheriff's Department and Road and Bridge Department compensation plans. Stone said, "The life, health and safety of our residents is paramount and we need to make sure that we are being competitive in attracting, recruiting and retaining the best talent to Teller County".
Teller County elected officials stood in support of Stone and fellow commissioner Dan Williams from District 1, who also announced his re-election at the same meeting. Sheriff Jason Mikesell, District Attorney Michael Allen and Commissioner Bob Campbell all spoke in support and endorsing Williams and Stone with commissioner Campbell stating that this was the finest Board of County Commissioners that he has served with out of the seven boards that he has worked with.
June 6, 2020
March 26, 2020
A Discussion about Coronavirus
May 15, 2023
Governor signs Teller County's Property Tax Reduction Bill
Denver, CO – Governor Jared Polis administratively signed Senate Bill 23-108, an bill authored by Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone and sponsored by Senator Mark Baisley (Woodland Park) that clarifies the authority of local governments to offer temporary property tax relief.
The bill was the brainchild of the Teller County Board of County Commissioners after they received a briefing from the Teller County Assessor's office about rapidly rising property tax values in Teller County.
"We knew in 2022 that property values were going to spike at least 40 percent on average in Teller County, triggering a huge increase in property taxes for Teller County residents", said Stone. "We immediately pulled out a cellphone, called Senator Baisley and asked him if he would be willing to run a bill to clarify our authority to lower taxes temporarily during the valuation crisis that was on the horizon. He agreed, so I drafted perhaps the simplest bill introduced in the 2023 session that simply states that all local governments can authorize a temporary, one-year property tax reduction while leaving the mill levy rate approved by voters in place should the market readjust to normal levels".
The bill passed through both houses of the legislature without a single dissenting vote and Stone says the county intends to make good on their efforts to get the bill passed. "We intend to refund over over two million dollars to Teller County property tax payers in 2024, nearly all of the projected increase," said Stone.
The tax reduction amounts about a 20 percent decrease in the county portion of the property tax bill according to Stone and he said the commissioners will be encourage all other taxing authorities to follow the county's lead and budget to need and not to projected revenue for 2024.
January 20, 2020
Can We Talk About Priorities?
December 20, 2019
Why am I running for Teller County Commissioner?
November 7, 2019
Prop CC Fails, TABOR Safe (for Now)
Prop CC, an attempt by the Colorado Democratic legislature to do away with both spending limits and Tabor tax refunds failed state-wide despite huge amounts of money spent by Progressive Groups funded by donors outside Colorado. A robust effort against CC was led by Teller County Republican Chairman Erik Stone, which included both newspaper advertising, social media advertising and dozens of signs along roads across the county.
Stone said the Teller County effort was copied across the state and "We had a huge impact, not just here in Teller County, but also in other counties who adopted our marketing strategy", Stone said after the election results were released. We hit the leaf-peepers from Colorado Springs as they drove to the mountains. We conservatively estimate that we reached in excess of 200,000 people. "When other counties heard what we were doing, we sold them some of our signs and gave them our creative graphics so they could do the same thing. It was huge win for taxpayers".