City passes budget, tax rate

Commissioners for the city of Breckenridge approved the upcoming fiscal year budget and tax rate following a public hearing held last Tuesday, Sept. 6 at City Hall.

No members of the public spoke during the hearing, and both the budget and tax rate were approved unanimously. The 2022-2023 fiscal year will begin Saturday, Oct. 1.

A tax rate of $1.02 per $100 of valuation was approved, which is $0.04 lower than the current rate of $1.06 per $100 of valuation. The approved rate is split between maintenance and operations (M&O), set at $0.76484, and interest and sinking (I&S), set at $0.25516.

During the meeting, Interim City Manager Steve Norwood discussed how he approached setting a tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year.

“Most cities right now are bumping the maximum they can to avoid an election, and the big pressures, like you’ve heard everybody talked about, is inflation and cost increases. So we’re staying within the law, we’re staying within what we think is an appropriate budget. (...) We feel very confident that what you have is necessary and appropriate.”

The approved rate is over 20 cents lower than the voter-approval rate of $1.22419 per $100 of valuation, which is the highest rate that can be adopted without triggering an election where voters could approve or disapprove of the rate. The rate is just over 16 cents higher than the no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.85851, which is the rate that would raise the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year.

According to the city’s public notice, taxable value on the average homestead residence within the taxing district increased from $68,782 in 2021 to $88,085 in 2022. The total tax levy on all properties within the taxing district also increased from $2,229,745 in 2021 to $2,605,158 in 2022, a difference of $375,413.

While the city is lowering the tax rate, property owners could still see an increase in their tax bill. According to the city’s public notice, at the approved tax rate, tax on an average homestead will increase by $169.38, from $729.09 in 2021 to $898.47 in 2022.

Budget

The city approved a budget which included $4,757,700 in revenues, an increase of $556,000 over last year’s revenues of $4,201,700. The majority of the increase will come from property taxes, which accounts for $548,000. The remainder of the increase will come from licenses and permits ($2,500), franchise fees ($5,000), fines and penalties ($500), and budgetary transfers ($5,000). A $5,000 decrease was made under charges for services.

The budget includes $4,719,612 in expenditures, an increase of $667,827 over last year’s expenditures of $4,051,785. According to documentation provided at the meeting, changes in the budget will include the hiring of an additional animal control officer, increased pay for city employees, and replacement of four inoperable patrol officer vehicles, among other items.