Gessler delivers fee holiday in light of legislature repayment, budget surplus

Filing fees drop to $1 beginning July 1

Denver, Colorado, June 9, 2014 - Today, Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced a fee holiday for new businesses. Beginning July 1 these filers will pay $1, down from $50. The latest holiday stems from the legislature's recent repayment of its 2009 cash fund raid, along with a budget surplus.

"After a five-year, no-interest loan, the legislature did the right thing by returning this money," Gessler said. "In turn, I'm reinvesting these dollars with our customers, back into the business community."

In addition to the reimbursed funds from the legislature, Gessler's office spent well under the amount budgeted for the year, leaving additional cash reserves. "Despite facing yet more legislative mandates, we tightened our belts, beat our budgeted forecast and banked an additional $300,000, leaving more than $3 million in reserves," Gessler said.

During the 2009 legislative session, policymakers raided numerous state cash funds to offset dwindling tax revenues and prop up the state's coffers. This included taking $2.2 million from the Colorado Secretary of State's cash fund.

In 2011 legislators- led by then-Senate President John Morse- attempted to raid $4 million from the department's cash fund, only weeks after Gessler entered office. Gessler opposed the sweep and the legislature eventually backed down.

"As I've met with business and non-profit leaders around the state, they consistently feel that their filing fees were becoming another back-door tax," Gessler said. "They wanted assurances that business fees would be used for business purposes, and my office has held firm to that principle."

Initiated by this year's Joint Budget Committee and signed by the governor, House Bill 1341 reimburses the Secretary of State $2.175 million. Coupled with Gessler's recent $1 million software licensing announced last week, this prompted Gessler to return the funds through a fee holiday.

Gessler initiated a similar fee reduction in 2012. That holiday returned $3.5 million to the department's customers in order to reduce the office's excess reserves.

"Through conservative fiscal management and cutting edge innovation, we're leading the nation and providing more for our customers for less," Gessler said.

The fee holiday will run through the summer and then be re-evaluated monthly.

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Secretary Gessler announces fee holiday for new businesses