The Fremont County Commissioners said Tuesday that while voters defeated two property tax measures in November, under the 2007 County budget the property taxes paid by many homeowners and business owners to county government will actually go down next year. Those comments came as the Commissioners formally adopted the 2007 county budget, set the property tax mill levy, and appropriated the necessary funds for next year's budget.
Fremont County Finance Director Dana Angel detailed the budget and the County's Tabor revenue calculations at Tuesday's regular board meeting. Angel said the combination of the local rate of growth and the rate of inflation in the consumer price index that is permitted under the Tabor amendment means that Fremont County's revenue should be allowed to increase by 4.61 percent in 2007. That percentage of growth should allow the County to collect $207,000 more in property taxes in 2007. To raise that allowable limit in extra taxes the County's mill levy would have to be increased to 12.595 mills. But Tabor prohibits an increase in the property tax mill levy without a vote of the people. The County's mill levy is limited to 12.294 mills which was the mill levy in effect when Tabor was approved in 1992. Angel says it means that instead of the allowable 4.61 percent growth in property tax revenue under Tabor, the mill levy limit will permit only a 2.11 percent revenue growth. So instead of the $207,000 increase for the County's 2007 budget, the County can increase property tax revenue by $94,900.
District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden said that when you take into account the fact that the County's assessed valuation has grown by 2.1 percent but the mill levy calculated against that assessed value will drop by 1.4 percent what it means is that for most homeowners and business owners the amount they pay on the line to county government in property taxes will actually drop when they get their tax bills in January. Unless people's property values changed due to improvements, their values were unchanged for 2006. But with total countywide values up because of growth, Norden says it means more people share the tax burden thus reducing most people's tax bills for county government.
With county budgets like the Road and Bridge fund already reeling after two years of deep budget cuts and the elimination of six Road and Bridge employee positions, District 1 Commissioner Mike Stiehl said it will only get worse. Stiehl said not only will there will less property tax dollars to be directed to the Road and Bridge Department but estimates show that Fremont County could see a drop of some $27,000 in revenue from the Highway Users Tax Fund in 2007.....money that comes from gasoline taxes. Stiehl said there have even been predictions that by 2030 the state will have no Highway Users tax money to distribute back to counties if more and more gasoline taxes are directed towards the State Patrol.
Norden added that there seems to be continuing confusion over the state and local ballot issues. Norden said that in the aftermath of the defeated county tax measures in November he has heard that some citizens rejected the taxes because they believe passage of Referendum 'C' one year ago should have solved the problems. Norden said passage of Referendum 'C' affected only the state budget and had no impact on the Tabor amendment as it applies to local government. He said while Referendum 'C' removed the 'ratchet down' effect of Tabor on state government, the ratchet down calculation still applies to local government and is responsible in part for the county's inability to recover its revenue base from where it was in previous years.
