Broomfield Taxpayer Matters

September 4, 2023

Welcome, and thank you for following Broomfield Taxpayer Matters.

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” ~ Viktor Frankl - Concentration Camp Survivor

The Charter Committee will meet again on Monday, September 18, 2023 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Heritage Room at the Health and Human Services building. There will also be a Town Hall on Monday, September 18, 2023 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Heritage Room at the Health and Human Services building. Updates from meetings can be read under our Charter Review Committee page.

Important City Council Agenda Items - September 12, 2023:

7f - Motion to Vacate the Public Hearing and Second Reading on Proposed Ordinance No. 2219 Amending the Broomfield Municipal Code Regarding Drought Water Use Restrictions
11a - Ordinance No. 2215 Amending Chapters Landscape Code, Of The Broomfield Municipal Cod e - Second And Final Reading
11b - Public Hearing - Ordinance No. 2216 Adopting The Colorado Model Electric Ready And Solar Ready Code With An Effective Date Of January 1, 2024 - Second And Final Reading
11c - Ordinance 2218 and Ordinance 2221 - Energy Code Updates and Fire-Sprinklers for new builds - Second and Final Reading

Fiscal S ustainability - Budget Information

The City and County of Broomfield has put out a news alert before the Budget Forums starting in September. Information on those dates are found at the bottom of this section. We are looking through the numbers the City and County of Broomfield released in this announcement, and we will attempt to understand where their numbers are coming from in the budget documents and then we will make a comment.

If you would like more information on the budget here are the dates:

Economic Vitality and Development: Monday, Sept. 11 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Fiscal and Economic Outlook: Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Transportation: Friday, Sept. 15 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Elections: Monday, Sept. 18 from 1-3 p.m.

In the meantime, please take a moment to review the "Broomfield and Your Money" summary on our website, where we focus on the City and County of Broomfield operational, capital improvement, debt service, and reserves spending between 2017 and 2022.

What will Broomfield do with historically high Property Taxes? Take the Money and Run

On June 27, 2023, the Broomfield City Council reviewed the results of the City and County of Broomfield sales tax survey. Those results showed that 63% of the respondents opposed the proposed sales tax increase. As a result, the City Council decided to not put the sales tax measure on the November 2023 ballot. But, that's not all of the story.

In the June 27, 2023 staff memo to City Council, staff indicated how the City and County of Broomfield should look at how they could make up some of the tax revenue. From the staff memo - "Beginning in 2024, staff recommends earmarking a portion of the anticipated property tax revenues (emphasis added) to begin to address the facility and operational needs, including staffing, for the Broomfield Police Department and Courts."

So, what does that look like for you and the City and County of Broomfield?

For Broomfield residents, property valuations increased by ~40% in 2023, and your property taxes are about to go up in 2024. As an example, if your home was previously valued at $390,000, and your 2023 valuation increased to $550,000 (a 41.9% increase), your property taxes will be going up from approximately $2,600/year to $3,690/year, over $1,000 more!

For The City and County of Broomfield, they estimated that $48.8 million in property taxes will be collected in 2023 (see page 26 of the Final 2023 Annual Budget). With the 40% increase in property valuation, the property taxes revenues received by the City and County of Broomfield in 2024 could balloon to $68.3 million.

At a time where housing affordability is a key topic for all families, and with the actions by the Broomfield City Council to increase the cost of housing through housing ordinances for indoor sprinklers and EV charging stations (just to name a couple), the Broomfield City Council doesn't appear to be concerned for residents, rather they see a significant increase in property tax revenue coming the city's way in 2024.

The right thing for the Broomfield City Council to do is to lower Broomfield's mill levy rate to give Broomfield residents some needed relief to higher and higher housing costs. That said, we're not holding our breath waiting for that to happen.

Colorado wages increased...until they were adjusted for inflation

Colorado's June ratio for job postings vs. worker supply is 2.07. That means there are more job postings than a supply of workers to fill those jobs. As the graph to the left shows, the number of jobs seeking workers in Colorado (blue line) has increased above the one job to one worker red-dashed line starting in 2014. It dipped in 2020 and rose to the present level during the pandemic. The largest portion of unfilled jobs are those that pay below $40,000. Most people polled believe the problem is that employer's don't offer higher wages. Colorado's Wage Report shows that the average hourly pay has increased 35% adjusted for inflation. However, in certain industries a different story is being told. Workers in food preparation saw a 17.4% increase in wages since 2012; whereas, the average hourly wage for educators declined by 9.6%. One respondent observed, "The cost of living is too high in Colorado for most workers. Even upping minimum wage doesn’t help because then shops also up their prices. It’s a never-ending circle of businesses wanting their same profit but can’t find workers due to rising prices of basics."

Colorado's 190,000 job openings...

This is an official June estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The estimates are the result of modeling, surveys, and random sampling from 21,000 nonfarm business and government establishments. The estimates only infer trends and the changing environment for economists. The current estimate of 190,000 is up over 60% from the of 119,000 estimated prior to the pandemic. This article also notes that 29% of Colorado's United States Postal Service are eligible to retire in the next four years. The estimates do not include people who want a job but gave up looking for one, people who are underemployed, underpaid, or work part-time. Many people find that they have a certain hourly rate they need to make in order to maintain their current lifestyle. One economist asked why we have the current labor shortage, "The lower fertility rates have meant fewer people in the workforce. The aging baby boomers mean there are fewer workers on the other end. The Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z have different preferences. The COVID-19 policies and experiences and remote working caused a change in the way people want to work. I think part of it can be attributed to fiscal policy. We have dumped lots of money into certain industries such as the CHIPS (and Science) Act and (Inflation Reduction Act) and we don’t have workers for the industries they are trying to grow." Fiscal Policy is set by the government. Maybe less government would mean a freer market to distribute people and goods where they need to go, instead of policies based on where the government wants them to go.

What are Coloradoan's top concerns?

A survey of 2600 adults in April and May found that the cost of living was still their top concern. About 31% said housing affordability or the cost of living was their top concern. Environmental concerns such as wildfires was down 5% from 2022. Public safety, crime, and drugs was up 2%. Homelessness was up 3%.The following graph shows the problems considered to be extremely or very serious in Colorado. People with lower incomes expressed more concern, however, 70% of those earning $150,000 or more were also concerned. About 35% of people said they were concerned about how they were going to afford food in the next year and about 14% said they had skipped meals due to the increased costs.

Why they can't solve the housing shortage...

This story suggests that the housing problem cannot be solved because the government is not spending enough money. But the only way government can get more money is by taking from taxpayers which are also homeowners or renters. So you take out of one pocket, reduce that amount by administrative fees and feed it back into home ownership. If you take all of a person's paycheck, would that solve the problem? Housing experts blame the shortage on the cost of land and having to borrow the money to build. The cost of land includes impact fees, zoning rules and legal challenges which delay the build. All of these are a result of local governments. These government-imposed regulations make it hard to build anything at different price points. Even builders cannot offer reduced housing in Broomfield and have had to come back to the city council and ask for price increases. The article suggests that government is going to be the solution. Maybe the government is creating the problems and then are forced to solve them.

In another story, the City of Gunnison kicked some residents out of affordable mobile homes in order to build new units which the current residents can't afford. Sigh. Just another government program making things unaffordable for people who need affordable housing the most.

City Council Information

City and County Happenings

September 12, 2023

Next Meeting - September 12, 2023

Executive Session - 5:15 p.m.

Topic: City Manager's Annual Performance Review (approved 8/8/23)

Regular Meeting - 6:00 p.m.

Proposed Agenda

PC - Petitions and Communications (4)

4a - Proclamation for Broomfield Community Foundation 30 Years
4b - Constitution Week Proclamation 2023
4c - Broomfield Days Information and Invitation to City Council
4d - Announcement of Proposed 2024 Operating and Capital Budgets Electronically Available for Review and Comment
4e - Development Update: Broomfield Town Square

CA - Consent Agenda (7)