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 2021, for 2022 Collection, for the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado and Providing for the Emergency Adoption of this Ordinance on Second and Final Reading (Second Reading - Approved on First Reading on September 21, 2021, by a vote 7-0)
Body
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Executive Summary
Attached is the Ordinance establishing the Mill Levy of the Town of Castle Rock for collection in 2022 (Attachment A). The Preliminary Certification Report was received from the County Assessor in August and has been recertified in December. The Final Certification Report has been used to calculate the mill levy rate for 2022 property tax collections. This ordinance is being presented to Council on second reading.
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 final taxable assessed value for the Town of Castle Rock has increased approximately $127 million, or 10.8 percent, from the previous year’s certified total in December. This results in a mill levy rate of 1.139, a reduction from the prior year, and total property tax revenue of approximately $1.48 million for the Town.
Per the Colorado Revised 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. A mill levy adjustment is needed for 2021 because the increase from the prior year is more than five and one-half percent. The table below shows history of the mill levy rate since 2005.
Financial Impact
The property tax revenue resulting from this Ordinance will be reflected in 2022.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that Town Council approve this Ordinance as written.
Potential Motions
“I move to approve the Ordinance as introduced by title and provide for its emergency adoption on second and final reading.”
“I move to approve the Ordinance as introduced by title and provide for its emergency adoption on second and final reading, with the following conditions: (list conditions).”
“I move to continue this item to the Town Council meeting on (date) to allow additional time to (list information needed).”
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance