To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
Trish Muller, Finance Director
Title
Ordinance Levying General Property Taxes for the Year 2018, for 2019 Collection, for the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado (Second Reading - Approved on First Reading September 18, 2018 with a vote of 7-0)
Body
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The Ordinance was approved on first reading on September 18, 2018 with a vote of 7 to 0 with changes as follows:
Changes to the Ordinance have been made for the second reading and include the incorporation of the final assessed valuation information received from the Douglas County Assessor’s Office dated November 21, 2018.
Executive Summary
Attached is the Ordinance establishing the Mill Levy of the Town of Castle Rock collection in 2019 (Attachment A). In August, the County Assessor certifies the Total Value of all Personal and Real Property in the Town. This value is used to calculate the mill levy rate that was presented in the proposed budget. In December, the County Assessor recertifies the Total Value of Real and Personal Property (Attachment B).
Discussion
Property taxes are placed solely in the Town’s General Fund which supports core Town services including Police and Fire. As shown below, the total preliminary taxable assessed value for the Town of Castle Rock has increased approximately $39.7 million dollars, or 4.3 percent, from the previous year’s certified total in December. This results in a mill levy rate of 1.330, the same as in 2018, and total property tax revenue of approximately $1.3 million for the Town.
Per the Colorado revised state statutes 29-01-301 (1) (a), all statutory tax levies for collection in 1989 and thereafter when applied to the total valuation for assessment of the state, each of the counties, cities, and towns not chartered as home rule shall be so reduced as to prohibit the levying of a greater amount of revenue than was levied in the prior year plus five and one-half percent. Castle Rock Municipal Code also states that the Town shall levy no more than the amount of revenue that was levied in the preceding year plus five and one-half percent. Annual growth in excess of the five and one-half percent limitation results in a corresponding mill levy reduction in that year in order to align with the revenue growth limitation. The table below shows history of the mill levy rate since 2004.
Financial Impact
As the final assessed valuation is received and certified in December, the resulting property tax revenue will be reflected in 2019.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommend that Town Council approve this Ordinance as written.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve on second reading an Ordinance levying general property taxes for the year 2018, for 2019 collection, for the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado.”
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance - Second Reading
Attachment B: Certificate of Valuation