Gov. Jared Polis granted local governments and school districts the ability to reduce their mill levy to provide temporary property tax relief to Colorado homeowners. On Wednesday, he urged them to utilize the new law.
“Hardworking people in Colorado cannot afford a 40% increase in their tax bills, or even a 20% increase. Wages have not gone up by anything close to this amount, and high inflation and interest rates are creating an affordability crisis for many Colorado families,” Polis wrote in letters to local and special tax districts and school districts.
According to spokesperson Rachel Moyer, the city of Longmont is not currently considering reducing its mill levy.
“The 2024 budget was recently adopted with the same mill levy of 13.42 mills. This mill levy has been used for around 30 years in Longmont,” Moyer wrote in an email to the Leader.
Under the new law, school districts would not be allowed to reduce its mill levy below an existing statutory minimum limit of 27 mills.
St. Vrain Valley School District will reach the statutory limit this year.
SVVSD spokesperson Kerri McDermid said the district also would not be a in position to consider a reduction at this time. The assessed evaluation for the district will remain unknown until 2024 and the district won’t know how much money the district will receive from the state until the spring. Without these numbers, SVVSD is unable to evaluate its budget and is unable to consider a reduction at this time.
Mill levy rates in Longmont appear to remain unchanged for now. Colorado Mountain College is part of a special district that has agreed to reduce their milly levy “to keep revenue growth near inflation,” according to a news release from Polis’ office. Its mill levy reduction will provide relief for Eagle, Lake, Garfield, Pitkin, Summit and Routt counties.
