This Tuesday, December 12th, the Broomfield City Council will be voting to certify the Broomfield Mill Levy.

We are asking you to email the City Council, and attend the December 12 City Council meeting, at 6PM at One DesCombes Drive in Broomfield, and request that they provide direct relief to Broomfield homeowners by lowering Broomfield's property mill levy.

• Let them know how much your property taxes are going up compared to 2023
• If this is going to be a hardship; let them know.
• If you think this is immoral that they can just take your money, let them know.
• If you think government cannot spend your money more wisely than you, let them know.

It's a Wonderful Life...In Broomfield?

The actions of the Broomfield City Council and city staff are playing out like the crisis moment in the classic holiday movie "It's a Wonderful Life".

Much like Mr. Potter, the City Council stumbled across a windfall of money at the expense of someone else (you the taxpayers) - And they intend to keep all of it.

Much like George Bailey, you are being pushed into dire decision: How will you handle the huge increase in your mortgage or rent payment and balance the rest of your family's budget, which is already stretched by inflation and a growing cost of living.

You're probably feeling discouraged that your voice on Prop HH and your requests to the City Council to take action on the mill levy doesn't matter, and we're with you.

This is the time for you stand up, attend city council meetings, and voice your concerns, starting with the next City Council meeting.

If you are interested in more information about Broomfield's mill levy direction, please keep reading as we have supporting details below.

In November, Colorado voters defeated Proposition HH by a vote of 60% against and 40% for (results). In Broomfield, 56% against and 44% for (results).

Voters said loud and clear don't take our TABOR refunds and tell me that you are reducing property taxes when you are actually raising them by the highest increase since Colorado became a state.

You, along with a majority of Colorado and Broomfield residents, told our City Council and State Legislature to give use real direct property tax relief with the defeat of Proposition HH. Governor Polis even requested municipalities to lower their mill levies to help Coloradans.

In one of their first decisions, our newly-elected City Council showed you just how much they care about you during first meeting on November 28, 2023. They wanted to discuss how much you, the taxpayer, mean to them. You can find the City and County's presentation here.

We told the City Council we are struggling to make ends meet and we don't need another tax increase, but they don't care. When asked if they would reduce the mill levy for you, the taxpayer, who is sharing the cost burden, not only for inflation, but for water, heat and electricity, and now property taxes, they said not only NO, but heck NO.

What does the City and County of Broomfield Expect for Revenues and Spending in 2024?



A summary table from the 2024 budget (Table 1A, page 52) shows what Broomfield is expecting for revenues and expenses, including comparisons to past years.

2024 expected spending is $589.8 million; a number that you can count on only going up throughout the next year. Compared to the 2023 original budget, Broomfield spending is increase 8.5% in 2024.

2024 expected revenue is $623.5 million, an 11.8% increase over the 2023 original budget.

Within that revenue number, property taxes are $66.3 million, up $15 million over the 2023 revised budget - a 29% increase. This largest property tax increase in Broomfield history, twice as much as the previous record 13.7% increase in 2020.

They are banking on this $15 million windfall in property taxes to fund additional spending.

So, we thought: What if the City and County of Broomfield reduced the Broomfield Mill Levy by 3 mills (or about 10%)?

Well, using the example above, a 3 mill reduction would lower the property taxes paid to Broomfield to $1,035 and overall property taxes to $5,389. In today's economic climate, any reduction will help all families. This is still an increase to their budget, about $100 more than in 2021, from a single family.

With a 3 mill reduction, the City and County of Broomfield would receive $59.45 million in property taxes, still an increase of $8.15 million (or 15.8%) compared 2023.

To get to their "magic $15 million", the City and County of Broomfield would just need to find $6.85 million in their overall $589 million spending budget to cover the difference. That's a 1.2% reduction in their budget, or just over $0.01 of every $1.00 they plan to spend in an year where their spending is already expected to go up 8.5% in 2024. 

Proposition HH - disguised

To add insult to injury, our legislatures simply repackaged Proposition into five different, but similar bills. They created five different pieces of legislation: SB23B-001, HB23B-1002, SB23B-003, HB23B-1001, and HB23B-1003.

SB23B-001 is the revamped Property Tax Bill that keeps the residential assessment rate of 6.7% from Prop HH, but increases the amount you can deduct from your property value before applying the RAR from $50,000 in Prop HH to $55,000. HB23B-1002 takes money from your TABOR refund to pay for "the expansion of a special-interest tax handout, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). SB23B-003 distributes your TABOR refund equitably, for those who paid and those who did not pay taxes. HB23B-1001 "spends $30 million on “rental assistance,” an idea lifted directly from the now-defunct Prop HH and expanded by $10 million." Finally, HB23-1003 creates a task force to come up with long-term property tax reform, which was the state legislator's job last session, so adding more people and taking more of your tax money from you.

XCEL Energy increasing rates again...

“We’ve never seen anything of that size or scale,” said Joseph Pereira who is the deputy director of the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, or UCA. This will mean bigger costs for you, the customer. Xcel Energy, by law, passed by your state legislator's, must reduce green house gas emissions by 80% by 2030, which is only 6 year's away. This proposal reduces them by 87%. The plan, introduced in September, increases power generation and storage to 7,100 megawatts (MW) which will be mainly solar and wind. They plan to add nearly $3 billion in transmission lines. The UCA estimates adding in all the planned investments could raise customer bills by more than 6% per year between 2023 and 2030. So let's say you pay an average of $100/month, by 2030 you would pay an extra $600/year, but based on past history, it would probably be a lot more than that.

"Robert Kenney, CEO of Xcel Energy’s Colorado subsidiary, said the plan was revised so the company could capture $10 billion in tax credits under the federal Inflation Reduction Act, allowing the utility to add more renewables at a reduced cost." Guess what, your tax dollars paid for the Inflation Reduction Act, so the cost of the new proposal is not only paid by you, through inflation, but you will also pay for the increased cost. A double whammy! Taxpayer, no tax increase is too big for you, you can afford all the costs passed on to you. Do you wonder why people are not making it in this "fabulous" economy. The taxpayer seems to be paying double or triple for everything, with all of us getting poorer, while everyone get's more wealthy.

Imagine...lawmakers not having enough of your money!

Your Colorado legislator's want to spend $2 billion, but only have $23 million to work with. What's a legislator to do? This article discusses various bills with high price tags such as child welfare. "The measure would need $3.3 million in its first year, but its out-year costs are staggering: $553 million in year two and $1.1 billion in the 2026-27 fiscal year." Another bill "on “kinship” foster homes, carries a price tag of $32 million, half of it from general funds and the rest primarily from federal dollars." The Transportation Legislation Review Committee advanced five bills, and other bills, mentioned in this article, will have other high price tags. These high-price bills keep us handcuffed to government and have done nothing to solve the problems of mental health and affordability for the average Colorado citizen. But that's okay, forced charity makes us all feel so good that we don't need to worry about how we're going to make it in this economy.

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