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grandcountyuncensored.com July 2011, Volume 1, Number 5 ||
FreePulling us out of the mainstream
THE BILLION DOLLAR
CASH COWGrand County's 41 Taxing Districts Collected Over 54
Million Dollars In Property Taxes in 2010
Opinion and commentary by [email protected]
The Grand County Uncensored logo and grandcountyuncensored.com
are trademarks of Uncensored Media, LLC. All content copyright
2011, Uncensored Media, LLC.
Grand County has 65 taxing districts, of which 41 currently
collect
property taxes through their associated mill levies.
Because 2011 was an assessment year, property valuations
fell
approximately 18 percent county wide. This will result in a
decrease in property tax revenues for all of the taxing
districts
within the county which will see 12 16 percent decreases in
their
overall revenues depening on their location this according
to
some of the conversations I've overheard at county board
meetings.
For this exercise, we'll be using the 2010 assessment data
from
the Grand County website because it is the latest full data set
we
currently have access to. The numbers are higher than they
will
be for 2011, but you'll get the idea. You may download the
PDF
yourself at:
http://co.grand.co.us/Assessor/links/Assessment&Levies.pdf
In 2010, Grand County had $1,059,590,630 in assessed and
exempt valuation. Of that total, $982,437,900 (call it a
billion
dollars) was subject to property taxes. Our 41 taxing
districts
collected $54,322,726 from property owners in 2010. That's
an
effective tax rate of 5.5 percent for all taxable property in
the
county.
Five and a half percent. That's not much is it? How long will it
take
our 41 taxing districts to collect the equivalent of 100 percent
of
the value of the properties subject to their taxing authority?
That's
easy. One hundred percent divided by 5.5 gives us a little over
18
years. To put that into perspective, over the life of a typical
30 year home mortgage, Grand County's property owners will
collectively pay the equivalent of nearly twice the value of
their
properties in taxes alone.
The property tax burden in our county falls much more heavily
on
commercial and less so on residential and agricultural
properties.
But, at the end of the day, the overall tax burden is borne by
all of
us who reside here because they are passed along in prices
paid
for rents, goods and services.
In addition to the county itself, the districts fall under
familiar
general categories. We have the school districts, fire,
hospital,
water and sanitation and the metropolitan districts. The towns
alsocollect their own property taxes.
What may be surprising to many people is the magnitute of
taxes
collected by these particular entities. How can we have
problems with school budgets when nearly 36 percent of all
property taxes collected go to our two school districts?
Property taxes pay for essential services. What constitutes
'essential' given the economic realities we now face is very
much
up for debate.
TAXES TAXES EVERYWHERE AND NOT ONEDOLLAR TO SPARE
YOU MAY VIEW REPLAYS OF
THE COMMISSIONERS'
MEETINGS AND OTHER
EVENTS SIMPLY BY VISITING
THE 'LIVE BROADCASTS'
LINK AT THE TOP OF OUR
WEBSITE
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REVENUES BY DISTRICT
2010 Numbers
Grand County: $14,888,846
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
East Grand: $13,946,514 (1200 Students)
West Grand: $5,373,837 (520 students)
TOTAL: $19,320,351
OR
$11,232 PER Student
LIBRARY DISTRICT
$2,367,675
OR
$152 PER Housing Unit (2010 Census)
FIRE DISTRICTS
East Grand: $2,129,684
Grand: $1,394,649
Grand Lake: $1,284,439
Kremmling: $433,970
Hot Sulphur Springs/Parshall: $125,661
TOTAL: $5,368,403OR
$346 PER Housing Unit/$1022 PER Houshold
METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS
Fraser: $2,332,806
Granby Ranch Bond: $1,102,857
Grand Lake: $767,587
Rendezvous Residential Bond: $699,876
Note: There are approximately 12 metropolitan districts
collecting
property taxes.
TOWNS
Granby: $554,571 (Town Manager Salary: $100,000)
Winter Park: $492,268 (Town Manager Salary: $100,000)
Fraser: $348,145 (Town Manager Salary: $90,000)
Grand Lake: $205,843
Kremmling: $176,560
Hot Sulphur Springs: $120,525
TOTAL: $1,897,912
Ad hoc committee anyone? Towns with 10 times less property
revenue than school districts were going to bail them out?
8/4/2019 Volume 1, Issue 5 Page 1 and 2
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RESPECTFULLY DECLINED
Contact the editor: [email protected](303)552 7963
I didn't have a snowball's chance, but I tried anyway. On
Monday,
I called the Fraser Valley Recreation Center (Grand Park
Community Center) and asked to speak with Director Scott
Ledin.
I asked if I might be able to tag along on an inspection of
the
facility by the chief tax exempt bond officer for the IRS. Given
my
request, Mr. Ledin was quite friendly and deferred his
answer
until he spoke with council.
Many may not be aware that the tax exempt bonds issued by
the
Fraser Valley Metropolitan District in order to build the
new
recreation center are under review by the IRS. If the bonds
are
deemed not to be tax exempt, Fraser Metro Rec. District
taxpayers will be on the hook for any interest owed to the
IRS.
This would be a PR disaster for the district, as they are
already
under fire over signage issues for the new facility.
After a short period, Scott called me back. After conferring
with
board president Dan O'Connell and their attorney, I was told
that
they, "Respectfully decline my request." Fair enough. Without
a
quorum present during the inspection, I wouldn't legally be
allowed without permission. It does beg the question though.What
is there to hide?
Not one to be dissuaded by rejection, I also put a call in to
the
IRS officer who performed the inspection. IRS officers are
not
allowed to talk to the media, so that too was a dead end. I
guess
we'll just have to wait and see.
PUBLIC HEARINGS || APERSONAL OBSERVATION
I've been attending many of the meetings of the Board of
CountyCommissioners lately, and I've begun to take note of some
things that might be
helpful to the general public when they come to give their input
during public
hearings.
Our commissioners are asked to make a lot of decisions many
times regarding
subject matter they have very little knowledge of. This is not
their fault. It would
be nearly impossible to become an expert in the wide variety of
topics they
touch on a daily basis. They generally rely on their own staff
as well as
members of the audience. This week was a prime example.
On Tuesday, there was a public hearing regarding the Morrow
special use
permit violation. The hearing was to determine what, if any,
action to take for
violations that occured while operating an asphalt plant near
Fraser.
The county attorney determined that the commissioners had the
legal authority
to do nothing, all the way to completely shutting down the
operation. In order to
figure out what to do, they essentially held an inquiry to
determine how the
violation occured and how to prevent them in the future.
It was quickly discovered not one person in the room knew enough
about the
equipment in question to reliably answer the questions the
commissioners had
for them. From the county employee charged with oversight to the
plant owner
to the affected neighbors, not one person was informed enough
for the hearing.
In the end, the plant operator was allowed to continue operating
with the
stipulation they get an independent test at an undetermined date
in the future
the successful outcome of which was most likely assured. No
fines were
assessed and hardly any punitive measures were taken.
I feel the affected neighbors gave up a chance to influence the
outcome of this
hearing by being unprepared. If they had come armed with facts
about asphalt
plants, particulate scrubbers and other pertinent information,
the
commissioners would probably have ruled more in their favor
because no one
else reliably provided any of the answers they were looking for.
In this instance,
the commissioners did the best they could with the information
provided to
them.
As for the plant operator? They got a free pass and I hope they
take it
seriously.
I'M AN IDIOT
In Volume 1, Issue 3, I printed that the school board
petitions
would go out on August 8th, as per the school board meeting
I
attended that week. I was wrong. The date was changed to
August 3rd.
Bitter enemies? President Obama (right) shares a laugh with
House Speaker John Boehner (left) Photo: Pete Souza, The
White House
ideology/noun
1. A system of ideas and ideals, esp. one that forms the basis
of
economic or political policy: "the ideology of
republicanism."
2. Visionary speculation, esp. of an unrealistic or idealistic
nature.
(Source: Google dictionary)
Remember TARP? How about the 'stimulus?' Do you remember
who suspended their presidential campaigns (McCain, Obama)
specifically to vote on TARP? Do you know who was presidentwhen
the stimulus went through? Is the United States better off
today than it was two or three years ago?
Do the two gentlemen above appear, through their actions, to
have fundamental ideological views that are completely
opposed
to eachother? Could you play golf and laugh at someone with
whom you vehemently disagreed on major philosophical
viewpoints?
Our nation is on a fiscal precipice. Debt limit increases only
buy
time they don't solve the underlying problems. Not once in
the
last three years has anything been done to reduce the amount
of
risk being added to the system. We still have banks
operatingwith insane amounts of leverage and risk playing games
with
fantasy accounting.
The two men above are, by title, leaders. Neither of them
chooses to lead therefore we careen inexorably toward the cliff
at
breakneck speed. Is this the result of visionary speculation of
an
unrealistic nature?
