Speaker Matt Huffman says property tax overhaul stabilizes increases and removes unvoted levies

Speaker Matt Huffman said the legislature enacted several changes to stabilize rising real estate taxes, protect long‑time homeowners, and increase transparency around local levies.

Huffman described a package that ties allowable future increases to inflation, gives local entities more authority over how much is collected from taxpayers, and eliminates a class of levies that he said were “unvoted.” He said, “there's about $24 billion collected and spent locally... about 4 billion or about one six of that was all unvoted and it was due to the strange way that certain levies went on and all that. So, that's all been eliminated.”

The speaker framed the effort as a multi‑bill initiative that included a summer veto override and coordination within his caucus and among committee experts. He credited members he called experts on tax matters — naming Bill Romer, David Thomas and Jim Hoops — for explaining complex levy structures and helping craft solutions.

Huffman said the changes were intended to let voters better understand how much money local taxing authorities actually need and to reduce unexpected tax spikes for senior citizens on fixed incomes. He noted local governments pushed back during deliberations, and the reforms included challenges to local officials to justify carryover balances when seeking new levies.

The interview did not provide full statutory citations, detailed implementation timelines, or district‑level examples of how the changes will be applied; those details were not specified in the program.