To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
Trish Muller, CPA, Finance Director
Title
Ordinance Levying General Property Taxes for the Year 2020, for 2021 Collection, for the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado (Second Reading - Approved on First Reading on September 15, 2020 by a vote of 6-0)
Body
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The Ordinance was approved on first reading on September 15, 2020 by a vote of 6 to 0 with changes as follows:
Changes to the Ordinance made for second reading include the incorporation of the final taxable assessed valuation received from the Douglas County Assessor’s Office. The mill levy rate remains the same as presented on first reading.
Executive Summary
The attached Ordinance establishes the Mill Levy rate of 1.196 for the Town of Castle Rock for the collection of property taxes in 2021 (Attachment A).
Discussion
Property taxes are placed solely in the Town’s General Fund which supports core Town services including Police and Fire. A preliminary abstract of taxable assessed values was received from the County Assessor in August and used to calculate the mill levy rate presented in the 2021 proposed budget. The final taxable assessed valuation was received in November. As shown below, 2020 final taxable assessed values have increased approximately $43.7 million dollars, or 3.9 percent, from the previous year’s total. This results in a mill levy rate of 1.196, no change from the prior year or the 2021 proposed budget, and property tax revenue of approximately $1.4 million for the Town to be collected in 2021.
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. No mill levy adjustment is needed for 2021 because the increase from the prior year is less than five and one-half percent. The table below shows history of the mill levy rate since 2004.
Financial Impact
Using the final taxable assessed valuation approximately $1.4 million in property tax revenue will be collected in 2021 based on a 1.196 mill levy.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends 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 2020, for 2021 Collection, for the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado.
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance