Property tax collections across Fremont County will drop by more than a quarter of a million dollars in 2011 based upon the mill levies certified for all taxing entities by the Fremont County Board of Commissioners last week. All school districts, municipalities, special districts, and the county which rely on property taxes for revenues must certify their individual mill levies to the county by December 15th, which in turn must be certified to the Colorado Division of Property Taxation by December 23rd.
Fremont County Finance Director Dana Angel said the final tally shows that all units of local government combined will collect $26,266,918 in property taxes for their 2011 budgets. That total is $283,000 less than the amount of property taxes collected in 2010.
The drop in tax collections is reflected entirely in school district property taxes. The Florence and Penrose RE-2 School District expects to collect $4,480.000 in property taxes for 2011 which is $249,000 less than the past year. The RE-3 School District at Cotopaxi will collect $1,355,000 in property taxes which is $113,000 less than in 2010. The Cañon City RE-1 School District’s property tax bill of $8,260,000 is just $13,000 less than in 2010. Meanwhile the Salida R32-J School District will collect $60,000 more in property taxes from residents at the west end of the county.
Fremont County government’s property tax bill of $5.64 million is $6,000 less than a year ago. The City of Cañon City will collect $2,500 less in property taxes while the City of Florence will collect $16,000 more in 2011.
Among special districts the Cañon City Fire District will collect $2.71 million which is up by $8,300. All other districts will see property tax collections vary by only a few thousand dollars from a year ago. The mill levy certification summary shows that the countywide assessed valuation certified by the County Assessor from 2010 totaled $451,821,000. That is a drop in assessed value of $2.33 million from the previous year.