{"id":2452492,"date":"2019-12-21T14:24:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T21:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/cmc-adjusts-mill-levy-in-accordance-with-2018-voter-authorization\/"},"modified":"2019-12-21T14:24:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T21:24:01","slug":"colorado-mountain-college-adjusts-mill-levy-in-accordance-with-2018-voter-authorization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colorado-mountain-college-adjusts-mill-levy-in-accordance-with-2018-voter-authorization\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Mountain College adjusts mill levy in accordance with 2018 voter authorization"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-22-at-6.04.09-AM.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Colorado Mountain College has made use of its new voter-authorized ability to adjust the college district\u2019s mill levy to account for changes in the state residential property assessment rate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Meeting in Glenwood Springs last week, the CMC Board of Trustees certified the college district\u2019s mill levy at 4.013 mills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That\u2019s a slight uptick in the college district\u2019s mill levy \u2014 intended to compensate for a statewide drop in the assessment rate for residential properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The statewide assessment rate was lowered from 7.20 last year to 7.15 in 2019, which reduced revenues to CMC by approximately $200,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">College district voters in the November 2018 election approved measure 7D, which allows the trustees to adjust the mill levy if the assessment rate declines as a result of Colorado\u2019s Gallagher Amendment, as long as total revenues to the college remain unchanged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Gallagher Amendment, which has been on the books since 1983, mandates that the residential assessment rate be lowered in given years to maintain a state property tax ratio of 55% for nonresidential property and 45% for residential. The commercial assessment rate is fixed at 29%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe college is not looking for increased revenues, but simply seeks to maintain its current level of funding if and when the assessment rate falls,\u201d Patty Theobald, who was reelected president of the CMC Board of Trustees at the Dec. 11 meeting, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With the new mill levy, homeowners in the newly expanded district \u2014 which now includes the Salida area following November\u2019s election \u2014 will not pay more in taxes per $100,000 in assessed value.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, there will be an increase to commercial properties of less than $5 per year per $1 million in value.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Because of a complex interplay of constitutional amendments, in recent years increased property values in larger cities have pushed down the assessment rate across the state, according to a CMC press release explaining the mill levy adjustment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That can have a disproportionate impact on rural special districts like fire departments, parks districts and CMC. Other special districts around the state are considering following CMC\u2019s lead in seeking relief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">CMC trustees said they were relieved that the change to the statewide assessment was considerably smaller than initially anticipated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Trustees also indicated at the Dec. 11 meeting that they will continue to explore ways to diversify revenues so the district financial burden does not fall on the shoulders of local taxpayers alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBy maintaining the college\u2019s revenues at stable levels, the college\u2019s overall financial position remains among the strongest in the state of Colorado,\u201d CMC President Carrie Besnette Hauser said in the release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis allows the college to invest in critical programs such as nursing and police officer training, maintain low tuition for local residents and qualify for low interest rates on debt, which, in turn, reduces overall operating expenses and puts more money into teaching and student learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hauser stated after 7D passed last year, \u201c7D is not a blank check or an invitation to spend. It\u2019s the opposite,\u201d she said. \u201cIt simply ensures that the college\u2019s future revenues remain level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\"><span class=\"Body Copy Italic\"><a href=\"mailto:jstroud@postindependent.com\">jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/cmc-adjusts-mill-levy-in-accordance-with-2018-voter-authorization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colorado Mountain College has made use of its new voter-authorized ability to adjust the college district\u2019s mill levy to account for changes in the state residential property assessment rate. Meeting in Glenwood Springs last week, the CMC Board of Trustees certified the college district\u2019s mill levy at 4.013 mills. That\u2019s a slight uptick in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 01:13:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}