Foothills Park and Recreation District to ask for tax increase

The Foothills Park and Recreation District will put a mill levy increase on the ballot for the general election in November.

If passed, it would be the first mill levy increase since 2000. Proposed increases failed in 2006 and in 2008. There was also a mill levy increase in 1982.

“In essence, it would provide funding for operations, capital repairs and enhanced services,” Foothills executive director Ron Hopp said.

The five-person board of directors voted unanimously to put the mill levy on the ballot at its July 22 meeting. The language that will appear on the ballot will be finalized at the August meeting.

The district is asking residents for a four-mill increase, which is about $96 per year more in taxes on a home valued at $300,000. Currently, a taxpayer in a $300,000 home pays $178.40 annually for Foothills. The district has approximately 93,000 residents in south Jefferson County.

If the measure passes, the increase would give the district about $3.7 million more per year starting in 2015. The district’s annual budget is about $22 million.

Hopp said the district is in need of the funds because it has cut back on spending as much as possible and explored other options for income. Rising costs have also partly resulted in the cash shortfall.

Hopp said staff has identified about $60 million in needs. While the tax increase would not pay for all of it, staff could leverage more money by applying for grants that have 50-50 matches. Right now, the district can’t pursue matching grants because it doesn’t have the finances to match.

Foothills would use the money to improve aging infrastructure and repair amenities, which it hasn’t been able to do in recent years. It would also begin implementation of the Clement Park Master Plan, which was passed in December 2013 and identified $25 million in needs at the park on West Bowles Avenue.

“This is a really important step to make sure we can continue to provide services and start on capital improvements throughout the district,” Hopp said.

While a measure has failed twice in the past eight years, the board is hopeful this time will be different.

“Those were tough times — hopefully things are a little bit different,” board chairman John Bradley said.

Bradley added that the district provides many services to residents — including sports, parks and daycare opportunities — and he hopes the community will consider that when making a decision.

“We are the fabric that I think holds the community together, but many people do not think about that,” he said.

One resident who said she has been attending board meetings for the past two years said she thinks the mill levy increase has a better chance of passing this time because the board is more transparent about what the needs are and what they have done to save money recently.

“After being at all their meetings and hearing everything they’ve tried to do to improve the system, I think they’ve done just about everything they can do,” resident Diane Suchomel said. “I think, last time, in my opinion, they didn’t make a good case for why they needed it and what they would do.”

Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc