A plan to pay for the upkeep of city services and for new cultural projects would cost the average Denver homeowner roughly $89 a year in increased property taxes. But that would still keep Denver with the lowest property-tax rate in the metro area, according to city officials. A task force of 110 business and community leaders appointed by Mayor John Hickenlooper has spent more than a year examining the city's infrastructure needs. The group has made preliminary recommendations to fund as much as $567 million in deferred maintenance costs and new projects for the city...
To pay for it all, the task force is looking at a three-part financing package to take to voters: A $340 million bond issue to repair infrastructure across the city that has been neglected by a maintenance funding gap. A property-tax increase to fund the city's $27 million annual funding gap for maintenance. A second bond issue for $227 million to fund new projects. Because the task force and city officials have yet to make final decisions, it is unclear when and if each part of the plan would go to voters or whether voters will be asked to pass each part a la carte or as a single package. But voters are likely to see something in November. The city would be able to fund the $340 million bond issue without increasing the current tax rate. Voters would effectively be asked to keep the tax rate the same as old bonds they are already paying for retire. Without the bond issue, property taxes on the average home in Denver - considered to be one valued at $250,000 - would go down by about $50 a year.
The second arm of funding - a mill levy increase of 2.5 mills - would increase the taxes on a $250,000 home by about $50 a year. That money is intended to prevent future infrastructure bonds for maintenance by establishing a new fund for maintenance costs.
Currently, Denver homeowners pay $5.33 for every $1,000 of assessed value on their property. The proposed 2.5-mill tax increase would push that number to $5.53 per $1,000. Miller said the mill increase is the solution to the underlying problem Denver has in funding maintenance...
The third prong of the package, a second bond issue for $227 million, would go for new projects. That bond issue would increase property taxes by another $39 a year for a $250,000 property - or 15 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value. If all three prongs are passed, Denver residents would increase the property-tax rate by 35 cents per $1,000 of valuation, to a total of $5.68. City officials said that figure would still keep Denver's property taxes at the lowest in the region - 15 cents per $1,000 lower than the next-lowest city, Aurora.
