Garfield County property tax collections will increase about $20 million this year compared to 2018 – a combination of recent tax increases approved by voters in the fall and an increase in oil and gas property valuations.
Last week, approximately 30,000 property tax notices were mailed out to property owners in the county.
County commissioners for this year certified $147.9 million in taxes to be collected through the upcoming tax cycle. That’s up from $127.9 million in 2018, according to county officials.
The increase is largely due to several property tax questions that voters were willing to go along with in the most recent election, said Garfield County Assessor Jim Yellico.
Among them is the new $6.3 million in mill levy override dollars for the Garfield Re-2 School District.
Also included is a new property tax to support the inter-governmental Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, which amounted to $930,000 from the three member jurisdictions in Garfield County – Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and New Castle. The new tax is not collected in unincorporated parts of the county. And, that amount does not include new property tax dollars going to RFTA from Pitkin County and the Roaring Fork Valley portion of Eagle County.
Newly approved property tax dollars for three Garfield County fire districts are also in the mix, including Carbondale ($1 million), Glenwood Springs city fire ($461,000), Glenwood Springs Rural ($160,000) and Grand Valley Fire ($2.3 million).
In addition, the county saw an 8 percent increase in its total assessed valuation, mostly related to an increase in oil and gas production activity and expenses last year compared to the previous year, Yellico said.
“That was more than we had predicted,” he said. “Everything else was flat, except oil and gas.”
Last year was not a revaluation year. Those adjustments to residential and commercial property tax valuations will be coming this year, to be reflected on the 2020 tax bills, Yellico explained.
For this year, property owners may pay taxes in halves, or all at once, according to a county press release. The deadlines for half payments are Feb. 28 and June 15, and the deadline for a full payment is April 30.
This year, nearly 48 percent of property tax distribution goes toward K-12 public schools; 29 percent to special districts, fire districts, towns and water and sanitation districts; and 23 percent to Garfield County government.