With three years until a financial deficit, the city of Evans will rely on the city’s voters this November to steer it away from dire financial straits by passing a proposed property tax increase of more than 200%.
On Thursday, Evans Mayor Mark Clark gave residents an overview of a proposed mill levy increase at a town hall. The increase would raise property taxes paid to Evans incrementally from an average of $88.99 to $277.73 by 2028.
“Is there ever a good time to raise rates on things? No, there absolutely is not. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I hate to be that guy, ” Clark said. “But this is not up to the council whether or not this is going to pass or not. This is up to you as a voter and as a resident who has to decide what’s best for your city in the long run.”
Without any major budget changes, Evans’ current expenses would outpace its revenue by 2028, resulting in major cuts to the services the city can provide, such as public safety and parks. According to the city, 59% of the city’s revenue is generated by sales tax, which isn’t sustainable, as any economic downturn could majorly disrupt city finances.
According to Clark, the city’s mill levy is currently only 3.53 mills. It has remained at that rate for the past 15 years. However, due to inflation, the costs for city services such as the police, infrastructure, and parks and recreation are rising, and the city’s income isn’t keeping pace.
After hearing responses from Evans residents via a survey conducted by Magellan Strategies at their last city council meeting, the city decided to lower its proposed mill levy increase. Initially, the city had planned to raise the levy to 15.49 mills to be on par with Greeley; however, due to pushback from residents, they are now proposing an increase to only 11.03 mills.
While less than the original proposal, residents at the town hall were still resistant to the idea. Many in attendance expressed their concerns about this being the first step to even higher levies in the future and questioned what was to stop the city from continuously raising these rates.
“What I’m looking at now as mayor and my council is what can we do to make sure that won’t happen in the next 10 or 15 years,” Clark said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen 15 to 20 years later, but I do know that if we don’t do something now, each year is going to get worse and worse and worse.”
Clark told residents the tax will only be used for city services, such as infrastructure maintenance, parks and recreation upgrades and investment into police officers with additional staffing, equipment and training. Clark addressed a point of contention that he had heard from residents about the disparity between the new $30 million police station and the city asking for more money.
Clark clarified that the money for the new police station, which the Evans Police Department desperately needed, is coming solely from the city’s food tax. The city cannot use that money for anything other than the police station, since those were the conditions when the voters initially passed the food tax.
When questioned about alternative forms of income other than sales or property taxes, Clark could not definitively answer whether they were viable.
“We’re always looking at new revenue streams for the city so that we don’t pull all our money from our residents, but it’s really hard,” Clark said. “We looked at marijuana sales in the past, and we heard from our citizens that that’s something they don’t want. We look for anything we can that can bring in additional revenue that takes anything off the taxpayer. But at the end of the day, the majority of it comes from sales tax and property tax.”
Throughout the meeting, Clark reiterated that he is not a proponent of tax increases but said this was necessary for the greater good of the city. When questioned about people who have a fixed income or couldn’t afford this tax increase, he told residents there will always be people who are negatively affected by any policy, but he needs to weigh their needs with the good of the city.
“I am the one, unfortunately, that has to make a hard decision, and it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” Clark said.
Clark announced at the end of the meeting that it will be his intention to host more town halls before the November election when this issue goes to ballot. He’s planning the next town hall meeting roughly around July 4.
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