A mill levy increase proposal to cushion La Plata County’s coffer for roads and bridges is circling back to voters, and commissioners are expected to vote on the ballot language this month.
Like last November’s mill levy question, which voters rejected, the proposal is for a property tax increase of up to 2.4 mills.
A mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 of assessed value. The increase would equate to about $76 in property tax a year for a $400,000 home.
The mill levy, which could be adjusted at the commission’s discretion and would expire after 10 years, would mark the first property tax increase in about 25 years.
If the measure passes in November, county staff expect to collect up to $4.5 million in 2017 – the first year it would see additional revenue from the increase.
The funds would apply to the county’s 10-year, $34 million improvement plan consisting of road reconstruction, repaving and realignment projects.
County staff estimates that additional revenue collected over the decade would satisfy up to 83 percent of the county’s needs for road and bridge infrastructure. Those funds have been under pressure in recent years as the county feels the effects of a 60 percent shortfall in revenue from oil and gas production, which formerly accounted for most of the county’s tax income.
Commissioners have pointed to various reasons that might have caused the proposal to fail at the polls last fall, including the Gold King Mine spill in August, which distracted officials from advocating for the tax hike.
The question was shot down in November by a narrow 4 percent margin, suggesting better outreach efforts could have tipped the scale in the other direction.
County officials have struggled in the past year with the idea of serving voters the same proposal they said “no” to just last year, but an op-ed commissioners penned this month for The Durango Herald suggested the county’s construction needs are too pressing not to ask again.
Commissioners are slated to take a vote on the proposal at their regular business meeting at 10 a.m. July 12 at the La Plata County Administration Building, 1101 East Second Ave.
A public comment period will precede the vote.
