A fire department in the Denver metro area is seeking a property tax hike to cover a projected $500 million budget shortfall over the next decade.
CBS News reports the South Metro Fire Rescue serves nearly 600,000 residents in Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties. The department said the growing population in this area has resulted in a 24% cal volume increase over the last five years.
But, the fire department added, the local property tax rate has not changed in more than 20 years. To address this imbalance, the fire department is seeking voter approval on a ballot measure that would raise property taxes from 9.25 to 12.25 mills. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
“The main reason that the board opted for property tax is that it gives you some predictability of what your future revenues and future resources are going to be,” said Jim Albee, chairman of the board of directors at South Metro Fire Rescue. “The property tax question, we felt, was the better question for us to put in front of the voters. That would allow us to continue to get the resources that we need to serve the community the way that they communicated to us that they want to be.”
Albee warned that his department could face understaffing and longer response times if the measure is rejected by voters. The department typically loses 30 to 40 firefighters a year.
“Our intent is that we need to be able to compensate people at a level that attracts them and retains them, brings them in to do a very difficult job serving our community,” said Albee.
Enter your proposal to the City Budget process.first.
To make it simple, a property with assessed value of $1,000,000 is currently taxed at 0.925% ($9,250/year) now being asked to increase to 1.225% ($12,250/year), an increase of $3,000 (32.43%) or $250.00/monthly. Hope the income of senior citizens would be increased that much.