Telluride schools seek mill levy increaseTelluride School District R-1 will ask voters in November to approve a mill levy increase amounting to $11.61 per $100,000 of a property’s assessed value.
Question 4A, approved last week, would raise $1.2 million a year and go toward operations, recruiting and retaining teachers, and maintaining small classes sizes, the Telluride Daily Planet reported.
The mill levy would hinge on Amendment 73, which faces a statewide vote in November. Amendment 73 would raise $1.6 billion for K-12 education by raising income taxes for people who earn more than $150,000 a year.
The Telluride Board of Education supports Amendment 73 and plans to drop its mill levy increase if the amendment passes.
In Cortez, the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 board voted unanimously against putting a mill levy on the ballot, stating that it doubted that taxpayers would pass it. In 2017, voters rejected a mill levy increase that would have raised $2.7 million a year for teacher salaries, school technology and a new bus fleet. The Montezuma-Cortez board put its hopes on Amendment 73, which would raise an estimated $4.3 million per year if it passes.
Telluride fire district seeks mill levy increaseThe Telluride Fire Protection District will ask voters to approve a mill levy increase and a freeze on the residential property tax rate in order to offset decreases in funding for the fire district.
The fire district board approved the ballot language on Aug. 29. The ballot measure will ask voters to approve a two-mill increase on residential property while freezing the district’s residential assessment rate at its current rate of 7.2 percent, the Telluride Daily Planet reported.
According to fire Chief John Bennett, the new residential rate would amount to an increase of $72 per $500,000 of a home’s value.
The Journal