Hello! I’m the town of Basalt’s finance director and want to share some information regarding the mill levy issue that the town has discussed in a few community meetings since late January.<\/p>\n
The town of Basalt posted the most recent community meeting that took place Feb. 6 on Jan. 31 \u2014 a week ahead of the meeting \u2014 on its website and through its council agenda email list. Additionally, the meeting was posted on Facebook and noted in a newspaper article. To receive future notifications for upcoming meetings, sign up for town of Basalt notifications through “Notify Me” at http:\/\/basalt.net\/list.aspx<\/a>, or email pam.schilling@basalt.net<\/a> to be added to the email list.<\/p>\n The town is taking a conservative approach through transparency with community members to help resolve this issue. Since TABOR is a complex amendment, and voter approval was received in 1994 to keep additional revenue, it’s not certain that the town owes refunds. The town believes it’s important to let the community know of this potential situation. The potential issue started with property tax collected in 2011, which is the first year the mill-levy rate was increased. Between 1994 and 2010, the mill-levy rate declined to its lowest point in 2010, and the town did not collect any potentially additional revenue during that period.<\/p>\n If a vote is necessary, the TABOR law specifically states that it must be resolved through a vote of the current residents in the town.<\/p>\n If refunds need to be given, then the refund would affect services provided. The town is required to have a balanced budget, and the town has made budget reductions this year to remain balanced. This means that any reduced revenue moving forward would require corresponding cuts to expenses\/services.<\/p>\n We will continue to inform the Basalt community on this issue, and we encourage anyone who is interested in this or other topics to sign up for town notifications. For more information on this topic, visit http:\/\/www.basalt.net\/575\/TABOR-Law-Compliance-and-Basalt-Mill-Lev<\/a>.<\/p>\n